All of the good movies are based on how that story was told. And you cannot do it with a bad script, that's for sure, no matter who.
An award doesn't necessarily make you a better actor.
Awards were made in Hollywood, in whatever the time it was created. They're to promote each other's movies. You give me an award, I give you an award and people will believe that we are great movies and they'll go to see them. It's still the same.
But don't call me an actor. I'm just a worker. I am an entertainer. Don't say that what I am doing is art.
Celebrity is very weird.
I do respect people's faith, but I don't respect their manipulation of that faith in order to create fear and control.
I don't know how to drive a car.
I don't really care where movies come from as long as they're worth making.
I enjoy my job as long as I can create a character, otherwise it's boring.
I have a job, I do what I like, they pay me well, I mean - I don't make a fortune like American actors, but I don't need it.
I live in Spain. Oscars are something that are on TV Sunday night. Basically, very late at night. You don't watch, you just read the news after who won or who lost.
I look at myself, and I see a Spanish person who's trying to be understood by an English-speaking audience and is putting a lot of energy into that, instead of into expressing himself freely and feeling comfortable.
I read material and if I like it I just go there and do it; I don't feel like I belong to any place. Movies are international.
I truly don't have any formula for the choices I make.
I want to act because I don't know how to do anything else.
I will work with a director who has good material because at the end of the day, that's what counts.
I'm never going to fall in love with anything outside Spain again. In Spain we do very little movies, but we do them.
In Spain I have my background, my language, but in English I don't have any tricks.
My concern is to continue respecting my work as I've done since I began as an actor and I could only do that if I'm strong enough to keep on doing what I think best in an artistic way.
My environment in Spain is good. I mean, people recognize me, but I'm used to that.
Now, there are so many movies, so many festivals, and so many awards going on, each judged with each other, like your work is worse than others and that's not fair. How can you tell what's best and what's worst from these awards? We're talking about art.
Some quality performances and movies have a chance to be rewarded, but it's not like it's a bible.
Sometimes I say to myself, what are you doing in this absurd job? Why don't you go to Africa and help people? But I cannot help people, because I am a hypochondriac.
The award is important in order to bring people to the movie theater. That's the only principle meaning of any award.
The Collateral thing was what I call an act of curiosity. Michael Mann asked me to go there, it's a cameo, and it was a way for me to see the inside of a so-called Hollywood, high budget kind of movie.
The only thing I can do is act, but it's not something I even feel comfortable doing. It costs me a lot, because I'm a shy person, even if I don't look it.
There are so many movies and it's a waste of time and a waste of money. Basically, movies are made with what it costs the external debt of all Africa.
This great imperialistic world called the United States has made us believe that an Oscar is the most important thing in the world for an actor. But if you think about it for five minutes you realise it can't be.
We actors always say how difficult and physically demanding a role was. But give me a break, it's only a movie.
We live in the moment now where this whole movie business is crazy.
Well, I've done the movie. That's all I have to do. You decide if you like it or not.
What does my performance have to do with Russell Crowe's? Nothing. If I play Gladiator and we all play Gladiator with Ridley Scott in the same amount of time, maybe we have a chance to see who did it best.
What I do is something that fulfills me, which is a lot these days, and the price to pay for that is to be recognized.
When I was doing Arenas dying of Aids, I watched Philadelphia 13 or 14 times, because I thought Tom Hanks was making good choices.
When you play Ramon Sampedro, you don't want to put that person away. You want to live with that guy as long as you can, because that guy is telling you some things that are going to make you grow.
Yeah, there are those idols that everybody has, but I won't ever work with a director just because he's a good director.
You are always concerned about the makeup work, especially when you are going to do a character movie instead of an action movie.
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