Joaquin Phoenix
I have this horrible sense of humor where I think discomfort is funny - partly because I experience discomfort a lot, and it's a way of laughing at it and getting a release.Collection: Humor
Sometimes a character is really based on research that you do. Other times it's just based on your imagination or perhaps your conversation with the director. Or sometimes all of the above. It depends on the movie and character.Collection: Imagination
There are kids who get on a BMX bike when they're eight years old and they go, 'Whoa, this is incredible,' and grow up to do extreme sports. It's the same for me with acting.Collection: Sports
You see so many earnest characters in movies all the time, everyone has a purpose.Collection: Movies
I wouldn't feel satisfied being on set every day doing a romantic comedy - I'd be bored to death.Collection: Romantic
I always have the fear that, if I don't commit 100 percent to my work, then it's gonna suffer.
My significant other right now is myself, which is what happens when you suffer from multiple personality disorder and self-obsession.
It's hard for me to put my feelings into words.
Once I became a total buffoon, it was so liberating.
Things are rarely as exciting or dramatic as we make them out to be in the press.
No, I don't want to talk about River. I have nothing to say about it that I would want to be public.
I feel like everything you learn as an actor growing up is wrong. You're supposed to hit your mark, find your light and know your lines. Those are all things that just make things wooden, dull and boring.
I had a really wonderful upbringing. We were a tight family. It was wonderful to grow up with so many siblings. We were all just a year or two apart, and we were always so supportive of each other. I learned everything from my older brother and sister and taught it to my younger sisters.
I don't know a single person in life that doesn't have conflict.
I've made up so many stores about my name, I can't remember.
I becan acting when River was doing this TV series and they needed two kids for the show, so they got me and my little sister, Summer, to do it. After that I did some really weird guest spots with orangutans and stuff.
Acting is real important to me. I love it, and it's something I care about.
When I go out with the ladies, I don't force them to pronounce my name. I tell them I like to go by the nickname of Kitten.
I didn't know much about him, and I wasn't a big country music fan. I listened to the Beatles and David Bowie, so I didn't know a lot about him.
I don't spend most of my life in front of the media.
I've always loved music, but I never really played anything. After 'Walk the Line' and learning to play guitar, and having that sense of performing, I think that certainly opened the door for me, for music.
I've always loved hip-hop, since I was a kid, that's the music that I loved. I think everyone of our generation kind of fantasized about hip-hop in some ways.
I still think that movies are amazing; I respect actors and directors.
I feel an obligation to set the record straight. Actors that say they're affected by something, that it changes their life, that they take it home with them, they're just trying to get nominated for an Oscar!
I'm incredibly lazy!
If you walk into a room and one hundred people say, 'You are a lovely, beautiful person', who isn't going to be affected by that? But you have to tell yourself not to value that. You have to tell yourself - or at least I do - to not become accustomed to hearing applause in any way, because I think that's dangerous.
I don't know why I always get to play these guys who have few redeeming features. But don't knock it. Villains are much more fun.
I enjoy humour more than anything, I don't really sit around banging my head and crying all the time.
I don't walk around like I'm a movie star because I don't think of myself as a movie star. People usually don't even notice me.
I'm vomiting days before I start shooting a new movie.
The reason I keep making movies is I hate the last thing I did. I'm trying to rectify my wrongs.
In most films - especially in regards to the protagonist - really from the get-go they set up some scenario that endears that character to the audience. Or imbues him with some nobility or heroism or something.
I don't really make movies because I want to see my face on a billboard or because I want to get good reviews or have a big box office. That doesn't really matter to me at all.
I mean, I don't like sitting at a table with seven or eight people asking me questions and kind of listening to what I'm doing - scrutinizing my thoughts and things like that. I just don't like it. I can't understand how anyone would.
I once told a journalist that girls call me 'Kitten,' but I couldn't have been more sarcastic, and no matter how many times I've said that it was a joke, it still doesn't go away.
I think the day that I become comfortable doing interviews and going on talk shows is the day that I don't know what it is to be a human being anymore.
I don't think one should be comfortable standing on a stage with people applauding and laughing at every stupid thing you say.
I never prepare. I think that's completely overrated. It's a very simple job. All you have to do is hit this bright mark, stand in the right spot and say the line. So I don't really believe in preparation.
Well, I think that you know, I threatened myself with quitting after every movie. But I think everybody does that, right?
I loved hip-hop. The first stuff I heard was Public Enemy, and I couldn't believe it. It was amazing, and I've always loved hip-hop.
I've worked with a lot of people on music and often times those things don't work out.
I just I don't feel challenged by acting anymore. I don't enjoy the process anymore.
I'm not technical.
When I decide to do something, I stick with it, total commitment.
Well, I haven't signed anything giving people the right to do anything they want with my image, you know what I mean. I have the ultimate say.
I guess my experience with some stuff is kind of abstract.
There was a time when I read a script and I just got excited about the possibilities.
I love having a master. I have no problem serving my director. That's my job. I want to make them happy.
I'd see child actors and I'd get so jealous, because they're just completely wide open.
It's an amazing feeling to go into a studio and really be alone.