Somebody I love and have a huge amount of respect for once told me something that, to this day, I don't really think I understand. It was probably toward the end of Harry Potter, and they were talking to me about afterwards and that kind of stuff. And they were saying, "You need to think of yourself as a brand and you need to protect that brand." I just don't understand what that really means in terms of being an actor, and I also think I would find that a slightly soul-destroying way to look at myself.
My favorite phrase, that a friend of mine who worked on the Potter films and was a lot older than me would use in front of me, and I picked up from him many great phrases - the English have a lot of great idioms for sweating. I don't know why that is. But that's what we do. I feel like it's particularly our country; probably everywhere has a lot of idioms for sweating. He always said, "I'm sweating like a glassblower's asshole," which I always found an incredibly strange and yet vivid image.
The happiest I ever am is spending time with a group of really good friends. That's all I aspire to in life, really.
I'm into weird kind of, anything that resembles magical realism.
It was a lot of fun to play a character [in Swiss Army Man] with no inhibitions, and with no knowledge of the world, and who comes into the world kind of like a blank slate. It means there's no template or blueprint for how you need to play certain scenes.
To be fair, it's not even the first time I've seen a dead version of myself. There was one on Harry Potter, on the last movie, that they actually used to bring to set in a body bag.
We sing a lot of the soundtrack in this film [Swiss Army Man] - me and Paul Dano - and on the last day of filming we had to just get into the back of our sound mixer's van and record a really crappy, rough version of the singing then. For some reason that was one of the most fun days.
What first attracted me to doing Swiss Army Man was just how mental it was - how insane and wonderful and original the script was.
Those things [t hydraulic penises and prosthetic butts and all that] can be what's genuinely shocking about the movie [Swiss Army Man] because people wouldn't expect to be moved by any of it.
I think it's kind of great, to be honest. I'll never do another film [like Swiss Army Man] where I get to talk about those things, so I might as well enjoy it while I can.
It's really good to talk about it [ hydraulic penises and prosthetic butts], and it's very gratifying when people ask us about the other aspects of the film [Swiss Army Man], but [those things] are part of the movie and they're important and hilarious, a very fun part of the movie, so there's no sense from us of not wanting to talk about that. I think it's exciting that those things exist in a film that is also very heartfelt and emotional and profound.
I'm not too worried about humanity in the future. I think we've got an innate ability as a species to self-correct.
All these things, social media or [smart] phones or the things that distract us from each other, are fairly new. They're all fairly new inventions, and I think we're in a stage where we sort of as a whole have gotten these new toys and we're just obsessed with playing with them. I feel like after a period of adjustment it will inevitably be a regression from where we are now.
The only thing I can think of is my favorite album at the moment by this guy called Father John Misty, and the album is called I Love You, Honeybear. It's just brilliant. It's the album I'm currently obsessed with. It is original, and the lyrics are fantastic and [it's] brilliant. So that's blowing me away.
There were some parts of the film [Swiss Army Man] that the Daniels [Kwan and Scheinert] really wanted to look as elegant as a piece of ballet. As Hank and Manny go on in the story, they get better and better at being with each other and more and more adept - Hank knows more and more what Manny's going to need at any given point, and having that choreography helps a bit.
I remember Paul [Dano] had said at one point that when he finished this film [Swiss Army Man] was the strongest he'd ever been just from lugging me around for [several] weeks.
We would choreograph [ with Paul Dano] before each scene [in Swiss Army Man] and very quickly got to a place where we could improvise physically in scene and know that the other person would respond in character appropriately. So that [dynamic] was a lot of fun.
Every day the Daniels [Kwan and Scheinert] would come up with some amazing solution and [make it easy] to put yourself in their hands. There's something really lovely about knowing you're working with directors who know exactly what they want and exactly what they're looking for, and they're not going to move on until they have it. That, as an actor, frees you up a lot because you can [try different approaches] and they'll only use what's appropriate.
Paul [Dano] was amazing at carrying me around [in Swiss Army Man]. I wanted to be there as much as possible but didn't want to hurt Paul's back, but Paul often chose me over the dummy many times on the set. But yeah, to be honest, a little bit of preparation I did with my friend in my flat could never have prepared me for quite the level of physical reliance we would have on each other.
I think it was pretty obvious early on that we had both come with kind of the same attitude of "Let's just [jump] in," and neither of us was going to be precious about it. I feel like the thing that we learned is, weirdly, the most intimate thing or a very intimate thing you can do to somebody is hold their tongue with your fingers. When Paul [Dano] is making me talk [in Swiss Army Man].
Every day I would come to set [of Swiss Army Man] going like, "How are we going to do this?".
I really enjoy working physically.
I think it speaks to the fact that other people are as excited about originality as we are. I think the thing that has been wonderfully communicated in the trailers and all the promotion for the movie [Swiss Army Man] is that it isn't like anything else you've ever seen, and we're not just saying that. I think that excites people.
I don't think of those things [from farting, to male on male affection, to crossdressing] as being taboo, I suppose, so it didn't strike me as, "Oh, I'm breaking boundaries and stuff..."
As an actor, I think sort of relish the chance to take a leap and sort of put yourself out there. You know, it's, like on any film, you just have to be willing to embarrass yourself, because otherwise you are not going to really reveal anything that you have. So I think it's exciting.
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