There are new words now that excuse everybody. Give me the good old days of heroes and villains the people you can bravo or hiss. There was a truth to them that all the slick credulity of today cannot touch.

Part of my strength as an actor comes from what I've learned all these years: when you play a villain you try to get the light touches when you play a hero you try to get in some of the warts.

I think if you do something effectively whether you're the lover or the comic or the action guy or the villain like I play movies are very expensive to make. Chances are you'll get asked to play that part again.

I did this within a philosophical framework and a moral and legal framework. And I have been turned into a cartoon of the greatest villain in the history of lobbying.

You look at the greatest villains in human history the fascists the autocrats they all wanted people to kneel before them because they don't love themselves enough.

I liked getting the best villain award. I thought that was funny.

Also for me it was different because I play a lot of villains and in this one I play a dad and I play a good guy basically. He's the Secretary of the Treasury. I never had a job like that.

I think I'm drawn to more villain-type characters because it's so cool to get to say all the things you want to say. In Hollywood you get to this position where you have to bite your tongue so much. You take all your experiences of not being able to say what you really want to say and channel that through your character.

My theory of characterization is basically this: Put some dirt on a hero and put some sunshine on the villain one brush stroke of beauty on the villain.