When You Have A Pipe Salesman With

I've Always Thought Of Acting As More Of An Exercise In Empathy, Which Is Not To Be Confused With Sympathy. You're Trying To Get Inside A Certain Emotional Reality Or Motivational Reality And Try To Figure Out What That's About So You Can Represent It.

At This Point In My Life I'm Not Bent On Proving Anything, Really.

I've Never Acted Before In A Movie I've Directed. This Felt Like The Time To Do It Just Because The " Leaves Of Grass" Movie Itself Is So Much Of A Platform For The Lead Actor. It's Really Written For An Exciting Performance And It Really Depends On The Audience Watching An Extraordinary Actor Having A Great Time Pulling Off This Feat. It Makes Sense To Me As A Director To Act In Support Of That.

See, I Don't Get The Sense That You Need To Direct At All. Sometimes I Get The Opposite Sensation From You, That You're Like, "i Really Should Go Do Something Else." But Then You Are Drawn Back In By A Particular Story, Like A Hangnail In The Brain.

I'm A Tulsa Jew And I Have A Religious Upbringing.