I don't think a lot of actors talk about it, but there's usually a process where you essentially purge yourself of the character that you played prior to the movie.
Hollywood is more concerned about its male actors being in shape than its female actors.
I'm an actor. I can do whatever I want. As an actor, not everything has to be the most obvious choice. And sometimes, the best thing you can do is to defy expectations.
The majority of the filmmaking process is in pre-production. The more you've planned out the more freedom there is on set to find new stuff, to play around, find new jokes and let the actors kind of breathe - but it needs to come from a place where it's completely structured.
When I was a child actor, I had the fear that I was going to be cast as the tree.
Unfortunately, in Hollywood, there are those directors that have some contempt for actors. We've all experienced that, in one way or another.
To have a director that loves his actors is something that you can see in the film and in the fruits of that labor. You can see that translated in the film. When you watch such movie, you can see a director who loves his actors, and it shines through the movie, in my eyes.
When you come onto the set, everything should be focused around your character and you should stay in the pocket, as much as possible. Every actor has their own process. For me, I really need to stay in the pocket.
The idea of exploring character relations and their development over a decade has to be appealing for any actor who cherishes his craft.
I could care less about being an action actor like Stallone or Schwarzenegger.