Quotes from Peter Berg

I don't think about awards when I set out to do something. If that happens, it's great.

I did not want 'Battleship' to be perceived as an American war film. I wanted to do everything I could to make the film accessible to a global audience. It felt like bringing an alien component to the film would help take the American jingoism out of it.

Truth is, we offered it to Tom Hanks, which pretty much every movie in America does, but Tom passed. Billy Bob said that Hanks recently called and said he's voting for all of us for Oscars, he loved the film.

I wanted to do a naval film and I flirted with different ideas, most of which ended up being too intense. So when the idea of 'Battleship' was first suggested, I was instantly drawn to the challenge - could I invent a movie around the idea of five ships fighting five ships?

Obama really is a warrior in chief. He's not afraid to get the job done.

I found at a certain point in my acting career that I was just bored. I had too much energy. I had too many ideas.

Some directors want to make superhero films. That's what gets them off, and they love it, and they love sci-fi. I prefer putting my hands into non-fiction.

Generally, studios are adverse to making films about war in the Middle East. They'd much rather make a film with a superhero or an alien or a robot.

I think musicians oftentimes have the right skill set to be good actors. And with Rihanna, I noticed her and knew of her obviously, and was very taken with her charisma and her confidence.

Sweating the small stuff is important in boxing and life. On a movie, we have production assistants who're 18 and 19 years old. If someone asks you for a cup of coffee, and you bring them a cup of coffee that's cold, I make a big deal of that. I make a really, really big deal of that. You have to pay attention to details.

When I look back at it, I'm mostly amazed at how poorly it was shot. David Kelley is a great writer, and I thought the scripts were great, but it just looks so cheap.

I'm a patriot. I admire our military, their character, code of honor, belief systems.

When I started making films, like almost every filmmaker, I think, you're just so excited to be able to make a movie that you'll do anything.

Then they started pulling me in and I was very resistant. All the other actors would be saying write more, more dialogue for me, and I'd always be saying 'No, less, less'.

Life is, and should be, a little hard. Getting punched in the face or getting an occasional concussion will probably happen to us all at some point in our lives. We can handle it.

For me, concussion response is pure common sense. We can all probably handle a few mild concussions. I have had at least three, and despite my detractors' opinions, I am mentally and physically fine.

I somewhere along the way became fascinated with exploring characters who are willing to put themselves into violent situations, whether it's football, hockey, boxing, being a cop, being a soldier. There's not a lot of people who are willing to put themselves into those situations.

I'm definitely drawn to stories of just regular folks, just generally in some kind of horrific situation. I keep saying I want to do a love story in the south of France with a boy and girl and some wine. Then I always end up in an oil rig with four hundred guys or on a mountain with guys shooting at each other.

I've been a big believer in musicians turned actor, going back to Sinatra winning the Oscar for 'From Here To Eternity.' David Bowie in 'Man Who Fell to Earth,' Kris Kristofferson's been great in a bunch of films. Liza Minnelli, Barbra Streisand, Mariah Carey, I thought was great in 'Precious.'

I grew up during a time of peace, and my friends weren't joining the military - it wasn't something on my radar. But if you asked me whether I could go back and do it all over again now, and it meant I wouldn't go into filmmaking, there's a part of me that would have loved to try to be a Navy SEAL.

There's a truth to the violence of boxing. You have a very real threat, an opponent.

I've had great success and I've had catastrophic failure. It's really how you handle the rough stuff that defines you, I think.

Before boxing, I was this angry kid ready to fight if someone said, 'Hello.'

I've always found boxing to be an incredibly pure sport. The level of character of most fighters I find very high. And it's just the best workout you can get.