(Discussing his role in Hostage) In the novel, my character was written as a 400-pound, 30-year-old massive force. Since I am not that, I had to find a different direction. I based my character on a serial who saw his parents die and now has a fetish for little girls and watching people die. [On preparing for his character in Liberty Heights] The big goal for me was just to get the mental state of mind, this kind of pure innocence. My generation is pretty jaded, pretty cynical. Everything happens really fast. Too much, too fast. So I got all the Life and Look magazines from '54 to '55, stuff that would be at the family's house, on the coffee table. I listened to all the Columbia years of Sinatra, stuff that would probably be on the radio. I talked to my grandmother and looked through her photo album. I talked to my dad. [On director Nick Cassavetes] Nick is magic. He doesn't tell you what he wants, he allows. And as long as you're taking chances and he feels that you are being truthful to yourself, then you can do no wrong. "I'm so sick of sarcasm and irony, I could kill! Sincerely, the real root of things is love and sacrifice. Everything else is an illusion. I'm not trying to preach here. I can't tell anybody anything. But I will say, if you're available to them, there are so many great secrets in the world, so many signs. It's when we stop for a moment and listening that the world gets interesting." [Talking about meditation practices] It's always difficult. To feel, rather than to think, to tap into that source and let it come through you. It takes courage. Because we feel it and then we get scared and we analyze it. We live in this thought web, we identify things and put them away and distance ourselves from them. But to be completely present? That is source, that is art, that is spirituality. And meditation is a way to defy fear and experience that source. *Laughs* I know this is all esoteric and weird. [On acting and his role in Alpha Dog] "It is cathartic. You do learn a lot. This part in particular was a lot of realizing where man's weaknesses, where my weaknesses, are. The best direction that Nick gave me was, "you're a fast car that doesn't handle well." So I just went for it. But if I try to over-intellectualize it, my heart leaves it. Because when I was in it, I was possessed." [On his movie Big Trouble] "It was more of a crappy farce than a black comedy. I took the job so I could work with such a great director. But in the end, it ended up living up it its name. I've learned that calling a film a black comedy is like the kiss of death." (On getting the part in Liberty Heights) "It was so surreal just to audition for it to begin with. When I got the call I was passed out. I was at my family's house, just taking a break from my apartment, and my mom came and knocked on my door. I said, "Leave me alone!". She said, "No, wake up!" I had drool down my face, I picked up the phone, and my manager said, "You got it!" and I proceeded to do a parade around the house in my underpants for a good couple hours." "When X-men came around, it was a vacation. Like living in a theme park for six months. I got to fly around and kick bad guys' asses."