Eric Bana
I race historic muscle cars back in Australia, and that's my hobby. And I try to race home as soon as I've finished a movie but don't tell anyone.Collection: Car
I fell in love with many women at school who had no idea I existed. I'm a bit of a romantic.Collection: Romantic
I'm a bit of a romantic.Collection: Romantic
I guess I'm a very keen observer, and I'd like to think I have a good imagination.Collection: Imagination
The darker the film, the more vital everyone's sense of humor is on set.Collection: Humor
I've always been attracted to cars, and driving is a completely measurable experience: if you qualify last on the grid, you're the slowest, and if you qualify first on the grid, you're the fastest. So no one can say you're slow if you're fast and no one can say you're fast if you're slow.Collection: Car
My background was producing and writing and performing in television when I started out, and I really missed that, that whole creative process that comes from sort of 'me' storytelling.
I love being at home, being with friends and family. I'm of European stock, brought up in Australia. I'm a passionate guy. I just love life.
My chosen exercise is cycling. I just love it.
Each time you go to the same track you know whether you're improving or whether you're not... it's not open to interpretation. It's measurable - unlike acting.
When I was a kid, I would do stupid things on my bike. I'd jump any ramp, I'd jump over people, I'd jump over things - always crashing, never hurting myself badly but always wanting to take physical risks.
I've given no thought to moving to America at all.
I deliberately fly in and out of LA for as small a time as humanly possible.
I'd say I'm the opposite of someone that has the urge to stand in front of strangers and make them laugh, but the idea of getting up and telling a story and people finding it amusing always appealed to me.
I've never been someone that's had a five-year plan, or a three-year plan. That just seems to lead to a lot of disappointment, and doesn't give you the chance to be flexible.
The most serious film can be the most fun. The one that's supposed to be fun can be the most serious.
I didn't study Greek mythology in school and I wish I had.
I think there are times when you walk onto a set you can potentially be either intimidated or distracted by what's going on around you.
I never look at the size of the film when I'm looking for a part.
I think the beauty of working with young people is they remind you of the spirit of acting and it's just a big play.
When I go on the plane to fly home, I'm literally capable of forgetting what I do for a job. That also comes about because I choose to take massive breaks between projects, and because I choose to do this ridiculous thing of keeping home, home.
It's always bitterly disappointing to people to see how normally one can live.
You'll read things and say, this is a really good project and it's probably going to be a hit, but I can see 20 other people playing that part. You have to have some sense of ownership to do a good job and be married to it for ever.
I've always described parts as tattoos. For actors our tattoos are in the form of films.
I get inhabited by a character and then you mourn it. There's a period of mourning for me, definitely.
It's always been my hope, as an actor, to reveal only what is relevant about myself to the work.
There wasn't a moment where I got into cars. It wasn't a conscience decision or something that came later, it was there since I was born. I just love it.
Technically speaking, you can build anything out of sand; it doesn't mean you do it.
A girl's got to be fun. It's the one bit of advice I always give to friends of mine who are thinking of getting married.
I think love can come fairly easily and grow - but really liking the core essence of someone is a much harder thing to bottle. If you have both, you're in pretty good shape.
My wife and I really, really like each other as well as love each other.
I'm not into bikinis or other revealing clothing.
I'll give you a list of a hundred ways that I'm more likely to be injured than belting around a race track with people who know what they're doing. It's not a place where I feel I'm in unnecessary danger.
I'm always one time zone behind myself.
I'm very much a bit of a ghost presence.
When you're shooting a film, you really don't get to be a dad, and you don't really get to be a husband. You don't really exist at all. But I do drag my family with me on location whenever I can.
I like the unknown. I like mystery.
I've always been a bit of a car freak.
I guess subconsciously that all the great people you work with have an influence on you.
I've worked with some of the great cinematographers. So I'm always watching what they do and I'm watching how the director composes his shots, just because I find it interesting as an actor; you're trying to help them out as well.
I really enjoy working on small films.
The longer you have something, the stronger the bond. That's true with people as well as things.
By the time I finished comedy, I was really burnt out of it. I had had enough. I don't really have a strong desire to prove myself in that area, or to go back to it in any great way.
As an actor I've been attracted to the sort of films that I want to go and see. That tends to usually be drama-related.
The reason my kids come to the set is so I can actually see them.
I have a theory that I really want my kids to know - the only coloration that they make between dad being in films and reality is just a lot of people doing a lot of hard work.
I think I wasted a lot of my youth, falling for girls who were a couple of years older than me.
Stand-up came out of three things. Frustration, necessity and arrogance. I didn't have a great career ahead of me in anything. Someone literally said to me, 'You should try stand-up,' and took me to a venue.
If you can jump up onstage and make people laugh, shouldn't you also be able to inhabit a character?
Over my lifetime, the car had actually transcended the fact that it is a car. It has become a venue.