Quotes from Vincent Cassel

I always had the sense of being in the spotlight, being on stage, being looked at.

My character in 'La Haine,' he's not bad; he's unhappy, and usually, people are like that. Most of us are angry.

People look up to Jacques Mesrine as if he were a Robin Hood, stealing from the rich, but he never gave anything back to anybody.

I'm really proud of 'Oceans 12.' Of course, you do an 'Oceans' movie, you get known all over the world. It's an incredibly powerful medium: It's a Hollywood-identified blockbuster.

Acting is such a feminine process: you have to become the desire of others. I'm OK with this, and so is Gerard Depardieu. In many ways, he's very feminine.

If the guy behind the camera is not good, the pictures are bad. It's still you, and it's the same lines and everything, but it doesn't work.

All good actors are actresses. The more like a woman they are, the better they act, because a man's salvation is his femininity. Women have stronger sensibilities than men, which allows them to go a bit deeper when they are on and off the stage.

I don't really shop any more. I only do it when I have to. I think it is very overrated.

The idea of telling a story in reverse destabilises your ordinary moral reactions. That's one of the points of art - to challenge your preconceptions.

To work with somebody you love makes filming faster, more fun.

To me, Sheitan movie is the answer to all the problems we have in France concerning immigration. That is a fake problem; people can actually work together and do something very interesting out of it.

Blood, especially fake, and guns, this is bullshit. It works in the movie, but on set it doesn't work for me.

Hollywood, for me, is the studios. It's a way to produce. It's a different way to make movies, and I never took part in that.

Every movie, especially when you get involved... takes something out of you. You learn something, but you give something to the movie. And after the movie, if the experience has been intense and a true experience, you're a little different afterward.

Actually, I never work in movies for money. I'm glad when I get well-paid, but it's not always the case - trust me.

And now I have a big house, nice clothes and I travel in first class and I love it, so maybe it's time to enjoy being a star.

I have learned that acting is not about beauty.

Working with David Cronenberg or Darren Aronofsky or even Steven Soderbergh isn't really like a typical Hollywood movie. These are true artists, and have a certain amount of freedom when they work, and they're more like independent filmmakers making their way through big studios.

Cronenberg's a lot of fun, and that a lot of people don't know watching his movies. He doesn't take himself seriously. He's still reinventing himself.

I did direct two short movies. I learned many things, and one of the things I learned was that I am not a director. It has to be visceral, and it's not for me. I feel much more comfortable acting.

Cinema is entertainment, and people go to the movies because they want to feel good and forget about everything.

You can't escape from what you are.

I still wear my trousers baggy as I did in my teens. But in a different way. I've loved trainers since my youth - limited edition, vintage, whatever. You could recognise people and judge their character through their trainers. I'm a Nike man.

My problem is I can't show any of my movies to my daughters. It's tough. 'Beauty and the Beast'... they liked it. But that's the only one, really. Otherwise, they've always been dark or violent.