If you compare me to an actor, I'm probably one of the best boxers in the profession. But if you compare me as a boxer, I'm probably one of the best actors.

I don't feel restricted by the language: I feel more free.

I really believe great actors, even with disease and age, can be great.

But what I really like are old Hollywood movies. Very often I watch AMC.

And I think it is the genius of actors to be able to escape whatever people are expecting of them. Otherwise you become like a factory worker.

I'm not a movie star like other actors in the way that I need to walk with a bodyguard.

If you compare me to an actor, I'm probably one of the best boxers in the profession. But if you compare me as a boxer, I'm probably one of the best actors.

But when you work with the director and the real person who is playing opposite you, it changes everything. You are almost in a working session. I was very comfortable, and that's maybe what helped me to get the part.

I see my friends, my family, my cousins work all day long for very little money, and if I have this problem of not being able to wall on the streets, it's not a big deal.

Imagination creates some big monsters.

Also, I have found that I really like to work in English. It's very strange because it's exactly the opposite of what I thought it would be like.

It's not only imagination, it's the distortion of the vision. You suddenly think, This person is idealistic, this person is strong, this person has dreams, when you know better most of the time. You put what you want to see on people.

I like Brad Pitt; I just have nothing to do with him.

I'll always be a foreigner.

I don't have goals in life.

People sometimes recognize me here, but they are very nice.

I want just to be happy and peaceful. And that's not always the case when you're married.

My father was champion of North Africa and he beat the European champ. He was very good, a professional for 12 years. We're from a big family of boxers. My father has seven brothers.

I quit after a bad car accident. The thing about boxing is that you can be a star for five or six years, but when you go back to the old life, it's tough.

Before, I was so stupid. But, you know, when you have friends who died on the street, you say, okay, let's calm down. It's not the kind of energy I want to have in life. I want to go slower, and longer.

I was born and raised in a suburb of Paris by a working-class family.

The first time Adrian saw me was on tape. But you should know that this never works - never in the history of movies has someone been cast from a video.

It's nice to have some distance with your family. As long as you're closer to them by love.

I always say I was born too late in the world, too old.

It's like all the signs were telling me that I shouldn't be a boxer, so I quit.

If you want to be happy, live discreetly. Does that make sense in English?

Love is based on imagination.

I played a scene at the end of my first year, and that's how I was discovered.

I don't want to dig in the truth all of the time. Let me dream.

I wanted to become a champ - I was surrounded by champs in my family and in my neighborhood - and because of this stupid accident, I lost my opportunity.

Otherwise, to be a movie star, it's a lot of compromise and also a lot of headaches. You can't do what you want. You become a prisoner of your fame. This happened to me in France and I don't want it.

The big difference with Juliette and the others in that film is that she goes beyond acting.

Who knows what happens tomorrow? We'll find it tomorrow.

And what's more I've got no need for anyone to tell me how to do it. I am not interested. You act how you want to and leave me alone to do my own thing.

I never analyze why I was with one woman instead of another.

My favorite actor is Wallace Beery.

I've been a very lucky actor.

I don't think I could be happy as an actor if there was a tyrant on the set.

When I was starting to get noticed as an actor in the 1970s for something other than the third cowboy on the right who ended up dying in every movie or episode, Burt Reynolds was the biggest star in the world.

Most parts that can be played by one actor can equally well be played by another, but not this.

I think, frankly, that I'm a better director than I was an actor.

I knew an actor's career goes up and down and back up again. Your standing in this business can't be your whole identity; otherwise, you're doomed.

I don't think any actor feels comfortable watching themselves in movies. You must be very narcissistic. The problem with your own opinion of yourself is that contrary to the normal spectators, when you watch a film you are in, you only watch yourself.

I don't think there has been any increase in sophistication in the audience. When people are aware of a concept that's easy to understand, and there's an actor who will attract them to the theater and it's a movie that's funny three-quarters of the time, it will be successful.

I never dreamed about being an actor, because that was out of reach. Coming from a small town that was big in farming, and also big in clothing factories, you don't dream about being a professional football player or an actor.

My goal was always to be recognized as a good actor but no one was interested in that, simply because society just wants to warm towards your appearance. This is the great blemish of society.

If you really do want to be an actor who can satisfy himself and his audience, you need to be vulnerable.

To be honest with you, when I got into this I never thought about reviews. I never thought about what people would say about me. I was just a young guy who was excited to become a comedian and an actor and I just wanted to get to do what I got to do.

It was very natural for me to want to disappear into dark theater, I am really very shy. That is something that people never seem to fully grasp because, when you are an actor, you are meant to be an exhibitionist.