When it happened to us and it was all gone overnight, we said, ‘We are in this together, we are healthy, our children are healthy and we can work’.

I have a natural swagger.

Some people have therapy, some people are alcoholics or they’re in AA. Some people jump out of planes on weekends or find ways to release this kind of thing. And for me, it’s acting. I find acting very therapeutic for whatever it is.

I’ll be honest with you. My kids don’t watch my movies and never have. I can maybe name a film one hand that they’ve seen, actually, all the way through.

I don’t watch the movies I make, so I haven’t seen ‘Footloose’ since it came out. You see this young, hungry actor, it’s pretty fun. I was the only one they screen tested. It was an attempt by the director and producer to talk the head of the studio into hiring me because they didn’t want me.

I always wanted, and still aspire, to be something more than just one thing, just one performance.

I’m obsessed with zombies. I like watching zombie movies and I read zombie books.

Critics can be your most important friend. I don’t read criticism of my stuff only because when it’s bad, it’s rough-and when it’s good, it’s not good enough.

I’d really like to get the girl, shoot the gun, drive the car, have fun. I even have these kind of action dreams, where I’m the action guy.

I’d love to be a pop idol. Of course, my groupies are now between 40 and 50.

I’ve made three studio albums and one live one with my brother. It’s melodic singer-songwriter acoustic-rock music.

Clint Eastwood has always been a hero.

L.A. kind of scares me.

I like directing. It takes a lot out of you, but I’d like to do it again – I just have to find a story I want to tell.

I’m always happier and a better actor when I can really lose myself in a character and become somebody else.

There are people who tell you to shut up because you’re just a celebrity, but pundits, talking heads, they’re every bit the celebrity and a lot of them aren’t any more qualified than the average man on the street.

There are some actor secrets you keep sometimes, and you want to keep.

It does get old to have to always be a monkey in a zoo. I don’t know what it’s like any more to be anonymous.

I didn’t get into this so I could talk about my work, my movies. You become an actor to act.

There are very few things that are purely conceptual without any hard content.

I just let the work speak for itself. An actor is not afraid to take risks; to put on different hats; to be a good guy, a bad guy, a victim, an abuser. There are all kinds of people in the world, and playing them is what acting is all about.

I do struggle with how much and in which way, as an artist or celebrity, that you voice your political views.

I think we all have a lot of darkness in our bellies. As an actor, the challenge of tapping into that, reaching down into that sadness or anger, is very therapeutic.

Any idiot can get laid when they’re famous. That’s easy. It’s getting laid when you’re not famous that takes some talent.

I don’t have to do the lead. If I dig a part, I’ll do it.

I do better on the first three takes; I won’t be better at 20 takes.

I would say invisibility would be sort of a fun power to have just to see what it was like to move through the world and not be looked at.

I don’t read my own reviews and I haven’t for probably 15 years. I read other people’s reviews, though.

I think one of the most pervasive evils in this world is greed and acquiring money for money’s sake. Once you have six houses and a plane, it’s just about a number. It’s never been anything I understood.

Things could be worse. You remember that, and you go on with your life.

I’d always tried not to worry about the size of the role or the size of the film.

Before Footloose, the things I’d done weren’t cute. In Diner I was an alcoholic.

There is a lesson there about greed and it is a lesson I am willing to learn as well. Has it made me a distrustful person? I don’t think so. But we probably look a bit more carefully at our financial situation now.

If I’m in a situation where someone doesn’t recognize me and treats me like everyone else, I’m not used to it.

If you’re an actor, even a successful one, you’re still waiting for the phone to ring.

The business that people do in LA on the social level is amazing. You go to a restaurant, bump into this guy or that guy. The next day you get a call, and they want you in their movie.

I don’t want to stop acting, but acting in some ways is a young man’s game.

Gary Oldman is impossible to steal a movie from. He’s such a great actor, he’s off the hook. I love him.

Ninety-five percent of celebrity is good.

I really believe that all of us have a lot of darkness in our souls. Anger, rage, fear, sadness. I don’t think that’s only reserved for people who have horrible upbringings. I think it really exists and is part of the human condition. I think in the course of your life you figure out ways to deal with that.

A good director creates an environment, which gives the actor the encouragement to fly.

There’s the most resistance to an actor singing. It’s like I’m being disloyal to my industry.

When it happened to us and it was all gone overnight, we said, ‘We are in this together, we are healthy, our children are healthy and we can work’.

As I was coming up on the stage, there was one source that could make or break you, the New York Times. Inevitably there would be one actor singled out for a better review, or worse, than somebody else. The effect of that was cancerous, divisive.