Quotes from Joaquin Phoenix

I still think that movies are amazing I respect actors and directors.

Sometimes a character is really based on research that you do. Other times it's just based on your imagination or perhaps your conversation with the director. Or sometimes all of the above. It depends on the movie and character.

For me, I'd rather have an intense experience than not.

I had a really wonderful upbringing. We were a tight family. It was wonderful to grow up with so many siblings. We were all just a year or two apart, and we were always so supportive of each other. I learned everything from my older brother and sister and taught it to my younger sisters.

With public figures involved in a relationship it seems that there is a machine behind their love so oftentimes.

I feel an obligation to set the record straight. Actors that say they're affected by something, that it changes their life, that they take it home with them, they're just trying to get nominated for an Oscar!

It's an amazing feeling to go into a studio and really be alone.

You see so many earnest characters in movies all the time, everyone has a purpose.

The only reason why I would like to be accepted? Because if your movies don't do well, after a while you don't get to make any more movies.

I guess my experience with some stuff is kind of abstract.

I didn't know much about him, and I wasn't a big country music fan. I listened to the Beatles and David Bowie, so I didn't know a lot about him.

I've always loved music, but I never really played anything. After 'Walk the Line' and learning to play guitar, and having that sense of performing, I think that certainly opened the door for me, for music.

Whether you think a film will affect society or it's plain entertainment, it's all excellent, it's all noble.

There are kids who get on a BMX bike when they're eight years old and they go, 'Whoa, this is incredible ' and grow up to do extreme sports. It's the same for me with acting.

I loved hip-hop. The first stuff I heard was Public Enemy, and I couldn't believe it. It was amazing, and I've always loved hip-hop.

I don't really make movies because I want to see my face on a billboard or because I want to get good reviews or have a big box office. That doesn't really matter to me at all.

I wouldn't feel satisfied being on set every day doing a romantic comedy - I'd be bored to death.

I have this horrible sense of humor where I think discomfort is funny - partly because I experience discomfort a lot, and it's a way of laughing at it and getting a release.

I always have the fear that, if I don't commit 100 percent to my work, then it's gonna suffer.

When I go out with the ladies, I don't force them to pronounce my name. I tell them I like to go by the nickname of Kitten.

It's hard for me to put my feelings into words.

In every film, whether it's a fictional character or not, you create an idea of the character and for me I always do a bad impersonation to start with.

There are kids who get on a BMX bike when they're eight years old and they go, 'Whoa, this is incredible,' and grow up to do extreme sports. It's the same for me with acting.

I'd see child actors and I'd get so jealous, because they're just completely wide open.