[on winning the Academy Award for Best Actor] It's interesting, winning an Academy Award as a young man . . . life-changing, but I'm just me within that. It's been very helpful for my career, but I'm trying to stay on the path I was on before. Show less «

[on giving up material possessions and shedding 30 pounds for The Pianist (2002)] There's no comparison to what Wladyslaw Szpilman went through and the suffering that people during the Holocaust, or nations afflicted with famine are going through, but it gave me a much greater understanding of that. And you can't act that. I take the work very seriously. Show less «

I suppose that means I'm not easy to define. But that's good, isn't it? In this town they love to define you to death. Show less «

[on Roman Polanski] He wasn't easy on me, ever. He wasn't particularly kind to me, but he wasn't -- he was never disrespectful regarding the work. I grew. I'm stronger, I'm tougher from Roman. I'm tougher. I'm not harder, I'm just tougher. Show less «

[on his role as the village idiot in The Village (2004)] It just felt like it was the unconventional choice. It was the kind of role that I would have taken prior to the Academy Awards. A lot of actors tend to wait for the perfect role. And that perfect role may never come. I don't want to start changing the way that I view things and become precious. Show less «

You get a little fame as an actor and suddenly people ask your opinion on world politics and why we're in Iraq. Why is my opinion any more valid than anyone else's? My opinion doesn't count more just because I'm famous now. Show less «

They compare me to Al Pacino -- I ire and appreciate the comparison. But, really, I'd rather be thought of as "the first Adrien Brody," than "the new Al Pacino". Show less «

[on his role as Jack in Love the Hard Way (2001)] I identified a lot with that character, I was exorcising the demons that I'd has as a hoody kid in Queens, where you hold your own or wither. So my character out-hustled the hustle. Show less «

[In 2010, on his career] I work when I want to work. I don't feel the pressure that I used to feel as an actor that I may not have an opportunity to work, that I will not find gainful employment with something that inspires me, that I might have to take work just for the sake of working. I feel honestly so fortunate to have that. Show less «

[in 2010, on doing a film for the paycheck] Everybody has a price, I'm sure. Often times the jobs you'll be well-compensated for are that way for a reason. The roles that speak to you usually don't have resounding success, or even compensate you fairly. There is a balance you try to strike. Really, if I wasn't an actor, I don't know what the alternative would be. I'm glad I don't have to face that. Show less «

[i 2010, on losing or gaining weight for a role] It's exciting when you physically change, when you change your body chemistry and you feel a transformation, it helps you feel a connection to the character. You feel different from yourself. It's another level of involvement. Show less «

[on Detachment (2011)] That's a movie that we all made for the right reasons and no one saw. That is upsetting. It was a wonderful role, and in playing that character it made me think a lot about our children's future and how frightening it is, and what they're up against. Show less «

[on working on Peter Jackson's King Kong (2005)] I'm running around in front of a green screen screaming, "Where's the monkey? Where's the monkey?" Show less «

[on working with Roman Polanski on The Pianist (2002)] We were shooting a scene and he's like, "Adrien, I need you to climb up the building. And I want you to go up to the roof and I want you to climb out the window. And I want you to hang and they're going to shoot at you. And I want you to slide off the building and hold on to the gutter and then you're going to fall". And I said, "Has anyone tried this before?" And he said, "Hollywood actors! Come on, I show you, I show you." And he runs up the building, sixty-eight years old, climbs out the window and hangs from the window, slides down the roof of the building, hangs from the gutter, jumps down to the ground, brushes himself off and he said, "There, somebody did it. Now do it". Show less «

I would have loved to make a lot of money as an actor. I would have loved to not live in a shitty little apartment for most of the time I've been in Los Angeles. I would have loved to have nice things and bought new cars, but it's painful for me to do a bad role. Personally painful. You feel like you're lying to everybody. It's just not worth it. Show less «

[on playing hero Jack Driscoll in Peter Jackson's King Kong (2005)] I've always wanted to do something like King Kong. It's a phenomenal role that any actor would kill for. I've been looking for this kind of iconic leading man guy for years, but they are hard to find. Show less «

I don't think anyone saw me as the heroic leading man before I won an Oscar. I'm not sure anyone does now, outside of Peter Jackson. Show less «

[In 2010, on acting] I was always an actor - not in a way that people might presume actors to be, 'cause I believe there's a presumption that they like attention all the time, and that they're very outgoing. Acting is perhaps misunderstood. I'm a relatively shy person. I often liken it to my mother's approach as an artist, because she's a photographer and she sees so much in a situation that very few people might see. She'll see so much happening beneath the surface with an imagery that says something else. And I have a fascination with a similar kind of thing where I see details in people's mannerisms, or beneath something that's said to someone else. All these things that lay beneath the surface and things that are really special and that make us all so unique. Growing up in New York, I encountered so many different kinds of people everywhere. I went to the School of Performing Arts, but I feel like my real acting training came from going to and from school on four different trains each way, because of how many human beings I've encountered, between homeless people and immigrant workers and shark businessmen and every kind of human being - every kind of human being every other step. My natural fascination was that I gravitated toward their mannerisms - not to use as an actor, just because I'm curious, I guess. And rather than capture the image with photography, I feel like I capture it somehow and details very specifically, and I retain things very easily and evoke them later. Show less «

I'm not the kind of person to deliberately behave differently for the sake of behaving differently, but there are certain things that you have to kind of be true to and sacrifice your own freedom at that time to do. Show less «

[In 2010, regarding fame after The Pianist (2002)] Even though I've had plenty of ups and downs, I didn't have the maturity and the sense of self-awareness to have gotten me through it as positively as I did if I had been in my early twenties. A five-year difference would have had a big impact. Because you have a tremendous amount of attention: All the girls think you're beautiful all of a sudden, and people wanna be your friends - and they genuinely wanna be your friend. I don't feel that it's insincere. You now emanate some sort of light that you didn't have before, and it's created, but it's too much. Even tons of positive energy on one person is still energy, and that does something. There're repercussions for that kind of energy. It's a lot of forces coming right at you, and that's tumultuous for any young person. Show less «

[In 2010, on acting] An actor has a responsibility [to be] connected and present and able to be very malleable and exist in a space that isn't his or her own on set, and when they're working. I'm not able to fully engage with you when I'm working on a set. I couldn't do an interview justice because it's impossible for me to separate from myself, and then to engage as myself, and then go back to [that character]. So then my producer who needs that interview might say, "Oh, he's being pretentious." But it's detrimental to my process of being truthful [to the character], nothing more. Sometimes I am very gregarious and outgoing, and sometimes I'm not. I'm relatively introverted, and I'll stay by myself; but they'll misinterpret what that is. Show less «

I've never taken a role for money. I felt it would be wrong - not necessarily a career decision - just wrong. Show less «

[in 2010] The reality is that, for me, acting is somewhat of a painful process. A beautiful process, but a painful one. The more I have to do battle to find truth, the more painful it is if I don't, because film is permanent. So it's important the work I choose is something I can have that confidence in. Otherwise, a movie becomes a permanent reminder of a mistake you made. Show less «

I was a wild, mischievous kid and I had tremendous imagination. Any experience I had, I'd try to reenact it. I always had an actor within me. Show less «

[Referring to his portrayal of Jewish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman who survived the Holocaust, in The Pianist (2002)] It made me have a much greater understanding of loss, of loneliness, and the level of intense tragedy that so many people have experienced in this world, I take a lot less for granted. It's really valuable to gain that, especially at a young age. Show less «

I grew up without a lot of money and my parents grew up with far less money. And that's kept me in line. Really in line. Show less «

[on his first role in Home at Last (1988), when he was 14] I was in high school and I went off to Nebraska by myself and I loved it. I was playing an orphan from the 1800s and I went wild. I hung out with the wranglers' sons and was riding horses and chewing tobacco and having amazing experiences. I when it was over, the director kiddingly said that they were going to turn it into a series. I was ready, I didn't want the experience to end. Show less «

[on growing up in Queens, New York] I hung out with troublemakers. I was a sensitive teenage boy, who luckily had kind parents, but I lived in a not-so-kind neighborhood. In order to deal with it, I toughened up and became more of a hoodier kid. It was never malicious, that's not in my nature, but I was much harder than I am today. Had I not had parents I could talk to, it would have got out of hand. Show less «

[on being strapped in a straitjacket and thrown in a body drawer for The Jacket (2005)] Those situations are very challenging, emotionally and psychologically, to find yourself in a confined space like that. I thought it would be interesting. It was very painful and I kind of encouraged that pain. I spent time in an isolation tank -- lots of time -- and I would let them leave me in the jacket and leave me in the drawer for a while. Show less «

[in 2010, on adding muscle for Predators (2010)] Putting on weight obviously is more enjoyable, though I was trying to put on lean muscle. So they're both very strict diets. But one diet builds confidence and the other strips it away. The diets are similar, but with volumes more food when you're building muscle. I have a fast metabolism so I had to gain mass and then shred it. I started with heavy weights to put on size; then I did higher repetitions with smaller weights to give the muscles definition. No carbs and I did a workout with more cardio. Show less «

[on his role in The Thin Red Line (1998) being cut down from lead character to bit part] It kind of felt like a soldier coming home after giving his soul and then not being appreciated. At 24, it sucked; it was embarrassing because I would assume if an actor was cut out of a movie of that nature with a director of that caliber it must be as a result of a flaw in the actor's work. Not as a result of a director changing his vision. But you pick yourself up. The advantage of being a bigger name is it costs them too much money to cut you out of a movie. Show less «

What guides me is to do work that's more avant-garde - things that I think are special. You can easily become a celebrity and get caught up in all that blur. I just want to work and surprise myself. Show less «

I think to be a well-rounded person, you have to experience good and bad, wonderful moments and pain. You need to meet people who have no exposure to kindness, who lack any opportunity and have no way out--like the homeless, the mentally ill--and you've got to learn empathy for them. Show less «

[on proclaiming himself a magician at age five] I was an amazing Adrien. I may still be at times. In retrospect, I see that was my first performance. And you know a lot about magic is not just the trick, it's the pattern. It's the delivery. It's the presentation. And this is why you're going to be amazed. Show less «

[on fame] It's made the world a much smaller place. I was lost, hiking in New Zealand and these two girls literally picked me up and drove me home. There was nothing weird, there was no agenda, nobody asked for anybody's number, not even a photograph, but they recognised me and they felt safe to put me in their car - a complete stranger from New York, a grown man. The reason that resonated with me is that here, on the opposite side of the world, complete strangers kind of took me in. Show less «

[Upon being described as "a young Al Pacino"] I'm a young Adrien Brody, thanks.

[on motorcycling in India] I almost died. I jammed on the brakes, skidded and nearly slammed into it. I was laughing, thinking, "This is the way I'll be ed: rear-ending a cow". Show less «

My dad told me, "It takes fifteen years to be an overnight success", and it took me seventeen and a half years. Show less «

Everything is harder than you would imagine, including success. You might think it's lovely to be famous, but if your process is to constantly observe people and human behavior and yet everyone is observing you all the time, how do you do what you do? I never saw that coming as an obstacle. Show less «

[on being enrolled into acting classes by his parents when he was a teen] I liked it instantly. Aside from being one of only three boys in a class of 20 girls - the odds were fantastic - I felt I was good at it, it was creative. I had been encouraged by my parents to be outspoken and free, so I was pretty much disinhibited. It was a good outlet for me. Show less «