I can play a man who's despicable. But I'll still look inside him to find a point of connection. If I can find that kernel, audiences will relate to me. My parents moved to Los Angeles when I was really young, but I spent every summer with my grandparents, and I'd stay with my grandfather on the farm in Longview {Texas]. He was retired from the railroad, and he had a small farm with some cows and some pigs. I remember part of my youth was feeding hogs and plowing fields and stuff, so that's a part of me. And my parents raised me to say "sir" and "ma'am"' to open doors, things like that. That's the way I was brought up. Also, unfortunately, I was taught not to question too much. I didn't really question my mom and dad. That's usually what they told me to do. [on his children's names - True and Ocean - and his name and how it affected his childhood] I want those names to be their destiny, for my daughter to be honest and my son to be expansive. I try to be like a forest, revitalizing and constantly growing . . . . Kids would tease me, calling me Little Bush". But . . . I thought being called Forest helped me find my identity. [on the most interesting actor he has worked with[ Mickey Rourke, I thought, was really interesting. I did a movie called Johnny Handsome (1989) that Walter Hill directed. I had a scene with Mickey in which he says goodbye to me, and I learned something very powerful. He didn't say anything. I don't know if his thoughts were so powerful or my imagination was so large, but I could swear I could hear him speaking to me. It was like he was saying, "I want to tell you thanks--you know, I'm about to disappoint you, but you did a good job". And then, finally, he says, "Thank you". I was just like, "Whoa!" He's an amazing actor. [on his career] As an actor, I've always wanted to do characters that would help me find my connection with others and connect all of us together. You always want the energy of the character, the spirit of the person, to enter you. I've been doing this for 26 years and some of the things I've done are always with me. Maybe it's a word; maybe it's a gesture; maybe the sound; maybe it's a new understanding about something. I look at it like a past life because I keep going over and over what I have done. [on filming the Panic Room (2002)] The guys on the set, Dwight [Dwight Yoakam], Jared [Jared Leto] and me, would work for a day, and then the next day Jodie [Jodie Foster] would work. We rarely worked together, so it was all about getting to know some of the guys. With the way scheduling was, she's not in the small frame as all of us. They never did it that way. The thing about the film was you did become closer with some people in ways because it took so long. This is the longest shoot I have ever had. It was about 145 shooting days. We also had rehearsals before that. I think it took so long because of the shots taken. It was the most planned movie I've been involved with. [.on getting into acting] In high school I did some musicals, but I never took acting until college. I was studying opera, classical voice, and a speech teacher asked me to audition for this play and I got the lead. And she helped me to get into a conservatory, with a scholarship as a singer, and then I was accepted into the acting conservatory. This agent saw me, the summer before I went to conservatory, and while I was in school, I started working right away. And it worked out. Until film is just as easily accessible as a pen or pencil, then it's not completely an art form. In painting you can just pick up a piece of chalk, a stick or whatever. In sculpture you can get a rock. Writing you just need a pencil and paper. Film has been a very elitist medium. It costs so much money. It doesn't allow everyone who wants to tell stories tell stories. The great storytellers, however, are going to rise to the top, no matter what. That's why independent film is very important to me. [on his role in The Last King of Scotland (2006)) I did a massive amount to prepare for this. First of all I started learning Swahili, learning the accent, then I had to do study all the recording as well as all the books, tapes, documentaries. When I went to Uganda I met with his [Idi Amin's] brother, sister, his ministers, his generals and even to the Ugandan king. I did more research for this role than any other character I've probably ever played.