Old habits are strong and jealous.

The Wright brothers flew through the smoke screen of impossibility.

I was in art school, and we had all these random classes. We'd listen to a lot of Bollywood. I'd listen to Spanish music - and I don't even speak Spanish, but Hector Lavoe is amazing - we listened to French music like Edith Piaf. She's tight. I like cool vocal inflections; I like cool sounds. I pretty much listen to anything I think is good.

I love roles that don't really have a template or a paradigm and force me to create using my own imagination... that really, really turns me on.

When I was 18, I lived in Greenwich Village, New York, for nine months. At that time, I wanted to change the world, not through architecture, but through painting. I lived the artist's life, mingling with poets and writers, and working as a waiter. I was intrigued by the aliveness of the city.

Whether it's theatre or TV or film, you're hoping you're going to bump into a writer that's got a bit of honour in him, that wants to tell a good story and is able to tell it well.