I got skewered through the chest after uttering about three words. Tony Goldwyn -- referring to his inauspicious film debut in _Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)_.

I don`t get over the wonder of it, and `The Last Samurai` was an extreme example of that. Every day when I went to the set, I couldn`t believe what I was seeing.

My parents kept us sheltered from this world of Hollywood. I don`t have any great memories of bouncing on Cary Grant`s knee or something like that.

I don`t want to do an action movie, because I`ve acted in them, and they`re so boring to do, because they`re so technical. The headache of that is daunting. But, if it were an action movie with really interesting characters, how great would that be?

I view the whole thing as a collaboration. As an actor, I always found that to be the most freeing thing, when the director would collaborate with you, so that together you`d come up with something exponentially better.

I want to keep doing different things. I`d like to do a more personal, dramatic movie next, I think. But as long as it`s about characters and good writing and good parts for actors, that`s what`s important.

The more decisions you make, the better, statistically, your odds of success are. And what I also learned was, it doesn`t matter: anything can be fixed. When you`re directing, you can agonize, but you can`t indulge. Stuff has to happen.

If you`re playing with the best, you just rise up to that level.

I grew up in Hollywood. Saying my name here is like mentioning Ford in Detroit.