I did a series called Ned and Stacey for two years for Fox back in the 90s. I was writer on it as well as a producer, and it was very important to me that there were no contemporary references.

As an actor I kind of do. I started out doing voice overs in the mid 80s when I was in grad school.

I'm not so proud to think that anything is unworthy, and I don't think I was that way 10 years ago.

Children from like 8 and even up to the college age - Spider-Man appeals to a fairly broad demographic but, like I said, a mean age probably of 12 is a good mark - they process information so quickly and it's not because of attention deficit or short attention span.

But at the same time, if the right thing came along, I would do it in a second.

But I think once the word gets out that the movie is funny - funny is transcendent - it will traverse all demographic barriers if people embrace it as a funny movie.

When I moved to L.A. in 1989, the very first thing I did was this horrific pilot called To Protect And Surf.

But I'm a citizen of Texas and try to spend most of my time there.

I enjoy doing press for something that I like, and I think the movie is very fun and charming and clever.

Cary and I are working together on another movie, Charlotte's Web.

Last summer when we were preparing for the movie, I actually kind of wanted to stay fairly uninformed about it. As we went through the process that we do in the movie, I wanted to be a little wide-eyed.

I invested, and I protected myself, so I enjoy that freedom.

I believe in singularity in relationships because you've got to have trust on both sides.

Their lives have been largely defined by failure and you would think the prospect of marriage, which is supposed to be bountiful and hopeful, it's just really another kind of tangential thing in his life.

And there have certainly been movies I wanted to be in and milestones I wanted to surpass that did not happen.

I would say 95% of the time, because you just can't remember your lines if you're drinking alcohol. I would say about 95% of the time it was grape juice or this fake wine, which was horrible.

I made a comfortable living for several years. I invested, and I protected myself, so I enjoy that freedom.

But all actors go through the process, it's hit and miss, you have achievement and failure.

He was using me. When he cast me in Sideways I was nothing but a vessel.

But to this day I am convinced that the real reason we met was because Alexander is from Nebraska, and he was completely fascinated that I was about to go off and make a movie with Brando - perhaps the most famous Nebraskan of all.

I kind of have a rededication in my life now to acting because I'm very fond of being in this movie.

But I certainly know a lot of people that existed at that level and are always kind of pining for more, always thinking that the next big break, the next opportunity, the big role are just around the corner of the next audition.

I love knowing that I'm not better than any other person on the planet.

I certainly was an actor and then I drifted more towards writing and directing.

Between Clive Owen winning at the Golden Globes and the British Academy announcing its nominations, of which Sideways received only one, I'm feeling pretty humbled these days.

To some extent I could identify with that because I kind of just made my money and got out.

I love going to the feed store and drinking coffee and talking about how much rain we need.

It's one of those scenarios where no, I never imagined that I'd be directed in a love scene - not even a love scene because it's kind of a hard-core sex scene because it's kind of just purely played for this carnal venting.

I like to keep my private stuff pretty vague.

I did a series called Ned and Stacey for two years for Fox back in the 90s. I was writer on it as well as a producer, and it was very important to me that there were no contemporary references.

The title of the movie is open to interpretation.

But all actors go through the process, it's hit and miss, you have achievement and failure.

Sight is about what lies right in front of us. Vision is what lies ahead.

Arnold Bennett was a writer I admired. He was actually taking notes at his father's deathbed.

The good parts of a book may be only something a writer is lucky enough to overhear or it may be the wreck of his whole damn life and one is as good as the other.

For a country to have a great writer is like having another government. That's why no regime has ever loved great writers, only minor ones.

I'm a writer who likes to be influenced.

In relation to a writer, most readers believe in the Double Standard: they may be unfaithful to him as often as they like, but he must never, never be unfaithful to them.

A true critic ought to dwell upon excellencies rather than imperfections, to discover the concealed beauties of a writer, and communicate to the world such things as are worth their observation.

A writer may tell me that he thinks man will ultimately become an ostrich. I cannot properly contradict him.

The most important training, though, is to experience life as a writer, questioning everything, inventing multiple explanations for everything. If you do that, all the other things will come; if you don't, there's no hope for you.

It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer.

Every sentence has a truth waiting at the end of it and the writer learns how to know it when he finally gets there.

It's essential not to have an ideology, not to be a member of a political party. While the writer can have certain political views, he has to be careful not to have his hands tied.

I was never really a writer, I was always more of a performer.

Without books I would not have become a vivacious reader, and if you are not a reader you are not a writer.

Well see, I'm a good enough writer that not everybody in my books talks exactly like I do.

So while it is true that I find really dark stuff funny sometimes, it's also true that as a writer of books I want to have the whole range of human emotions.

Here I am, where I ought to be. A writer must have a place where he or she feels this, a place to love and be irritated with.