JOAQUIN PHOENIX

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.

I'd see child actors and I'd get so jealous, because they're just completely wide open.

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.

Things are rarely as exciting or dramatic as we make them out to be in the press.

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.

Acting is real important to me. I love it, and it's something I care about.

You can take that 'I'm an artiste' stuff to the wrong extreme, too.

Going out on a stage publicly and not knowing how people are going to react to you - once I experienced that, it made me feel much more comfortable about going into a scene.

Well, I think that you know, I threatened myself with quitting after every movie. But I think everybody does that, right?

I wish I had fair justification for not being as informed as I should be, but I don't.

With public figures involved in a relationship it seems that there is a machine behind their love so oftentimes.

I've made up so many stores about my name, I can't remember.

I still think that movies are amazing; I respect actors and directors.

Every movie soaks into you for a certain amount of time.

My parents were just searching for an alternative way of raising their children.

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 know if I'm lost in the moment or not.

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.

Once I became a total buffoon, it was so liberating.

The only reason why I would like to be accepted? Because if your movies don't do well, after a while you don't get to make any more movies.

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'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 enjoy humour more than anything, I don't really sit around banging my head and crying all the time.

I don't bring my life into a character at all.

No, I don't want to talk about River. I have nothing to say about it that I would want to be public.