Till now I have never shot a scene without taking account of what stands behind the actors because the relationship between people and their surroundings is of prime importance.

I wouldn't date an actress. There's only room for one actor in my life and I'm it. Too difficult. On the one hand they understand the job. But on the other hand it's very competitive within the relationship. Two actors say one becomes a mega-star and the other doesn't.

Oh the relationship with actors and managers and agents and things is a terrible problem sometimes.

One of the things I really love about TV is this symbiotic relationship you can get between the writers and the actors and the characters start to come to life because you start to collaborate.

One of the reasons I loved working with Tom is people feel they know who he is... I think working with an actor who the audience already has a relationship with actually helps you in a film like this.

I shoot people in a way that makes the audience feel equal to them. And it's hard to express and it's hard to execute but I think it works on every level - the choice of the material the choice of the actor my relationship with the actor and so on.

I've discovered just how symbiotic the relationship is between writers directors and actors. They ask the same questions and strip down texts in exactly the same way.

When you think about it we actors are kind of prostitutes. We get paid to feign attraction and love. Other people are paying to watch us kissing someone touching someone doing things people in a normal monogamous relationship would never do with anyone who's not their partner. It's really kind of gross.

The power of the American system of republicanism lies in its capacity to allow religious belief to be a competing not a controlling factor in American life.

I don't feel particularly comfortable about actors using whatever power they may have to push their beliefs unless they're extremely well informed.

There is a glaring reason that the necessary total ban on nontherapeutic use of antibiotics hasn't happened: The factory farm industry allied with the pharmaceutical industry has more power than public-health professionals.

I think actors are getting so much more power these days but I'm not. I stay very much away from the decisions the way in which things are orchestrated what's been changed. I just try to stay completely in the role as the actor and as the character.

Emotional power is maybe the most valuable thing that an actor can have.

There's no such thing as an actor giving positive criticism to a director. The minute you say 'Don't you think it would look nicer...' that director's going to hate your guts. Particularly if it's a good idea.

And we can see the positive impacts right here at Solyndra. Less than a year ago we were standing on what was an empty lot.But through the Recovery Act this company received a loan to expand its operations. This new factory is the result of those loans.

It is the desire of the good people of the whole country that sectionalism as a factor in our politics should disappear...'

You should never ask actors about politics.

I became active in politics because I saw the possibility if we all sat back and did nothing of a world in which there would no longer be any stages for actors to act on.

Politics are a very unsatisfactory game.

The days when the words 'Hollywood actor' framed Ronald Reagan like bunny fingers as an ID tag and an implied insult seem far-off and quaint: nearly everybody in politics - candidate consultant pundit and Tea Party crowd extra alike - is an actor now a shameless ham in a hoked-up reality series that never stops.

I do not believe that artists or actors and people should be out there like voicing their full-blown opinions on politics because let's face it at the end of the day I'm not that smart of a guy.

As an actor there is room for a certain amount of creativity but you're always ultimately going to be saying somebody else's words. I don't think I'd have the stamina skill or ability to write a novel but I'd love to write short stories and poetry because those are my two passions.

For a long time I really struggled with the idea of being an actor because I really felt that I should be in the Peace Corps.

The United Nations remains our most important global actor. These days we are continuously reminded of the enormous responsibility of the Security Council to uphold international peace and stability.