Joel Edgerton

[on Smokin' Aces (2006)] I'm not a huge advocate of violence for violence's sake, but what makes this film okay in that regard for me is that it's a heightened reality. It's kind of like Ocean's Eleven on acid - it's hyper-real, cartoon violence. Show less «

[on how important it is to him that he's involved in other facets of filmmaking besides acting] Well, it's great. I mean, it's great to have that opportunity. It's just been like, without meaning it to sound too arrogant, I have a lot of stuff in me that I know I can do and I've wanted to have the opportunity to do and now thanks to people like Gavin O'Connor and David Michod, I'm starting to kind of spread my wings a little bit more and get new opportunities. And I'm fucking ready for them and I'm dying to do more stuff, but at the same time I want to keep writing projects. I want to write characters that I want to play. I want to direct. I want to do a lot of stuff. I just don't want to do crap movies, man, because I just love that I can get up and talk about them and talk to journalists about stuff that I'm really proud of. I mean, fuck, man - there is so much money out there to be made out there in the industry, and unfortunately the most money gets given for the subpar quality projects, so I don't need money to survive. I don't need shit tons of money, I just want to be satisfied all the time, and I want to be proud. I don't want to sit here and talk to you and know that in your mind you're going, "I fucking hated this movie and this guy is a sellout and I hate him." So we've got high expectations of ourselves at Blue Tongue and I've just got a high expectation myself. And I know I've got a brother, Nash, who if I took a step too far out of line or did it a couple of times in a row in terms of choosing the wrong project, he would slap me down (laughs). And I'm like you - I just love good movies. And not every movie you're going to end up in is always going to turn out right, but at least walk into it with the right intention. I have an issue with the commercial aspect of moviemaking: I don't see why a movie can't make a lot of money and also be good. We see at least two or three of them every year. Like last year I think was a really good year for movies, and they made some money and they also satisfied people on a number of levels. But there is some shit movies out there now. - it fucking pisses me off - and I hate it when a shit movie comes out that's obviously made just to make money, and it does make that money and it lets everybody know that it's okay to make shit movies because you can get rich off of it. I hate those people (laughs). There has got to be a business, yes, obviously it's a film business. But at least try along the way. Show less «

The sum total of all my stop-starts have made me less concerned about the future. I'm just aware now that I'll always land on my feet somehow. Show less «

I have always stuck to my guns about what I want from the work and what interests me. I've never been seduced down the evil path. The path of taking the money. Show less «

My brother and I are best friends.

'The Great Gatsby' ticked so many boxes for me.

There's a real sense of fighting and destruction in our DNA that we don't get in touch with.

I'm on the list that I thought I'd never be on. I'm not sitting here thinking, 'God, I might get this part' or 'is it too late for me to play Hamlet?' It's really about: who do I get to work with? There's so many people on that list. Show less «

It's tricky. I've never been standing at the top of the tree with tons of money thrown at me. I've never really had a profile. So in a way I have this 'nothing to lose' attitude. Show less «

Sometimes, the smaller roles in movies can be the most interesting. If you only take the stance that you'll only play central characters in movies, you'll find yourself not being able to indulge in that morally grey terrain that makes support characters so rich and interesting. Show less «

The first video I ever watched was on a Beta system because everyone thought Beta was the way but then it ended up being video so we backed the wrong horse. Show less «

The tricky thing becomes: Do you know yourself well enough to then portray that on screen? And for me, I find that really hard. I'd rather hide behind accents and funny walks. Show less «

I'm single, footloose and fancy free, I have no responsibilities, no anchors. Work, friendship and self-improvement, that's me.

One of the things I've always enjoyed is moving around and staying fit. Physicality is such a big part of being an actor, but it's also about stillness and silence. Show less «

I'm not going to allow myself to second-guess projects. I'm just going to do the ones that I fully love and believe in - that's a real privilege. Show less «

Every job leaves its residue, a bit of extra knowledge, a new skill-set.

Whereas 'Avatar' and other movies get shocks out of their three-dimensionality, 'Gatsby' is going to be about inviting the audience into this larger-than-life drama, letting them almost be inside the room rather than looking at it through the window. I think it will really work. Show less «

I remember my brother Nash had just directed me in 'The Square,' and I was sitting in Australia going: 'No one's called me about working for ages. I don't know if I'm ever going to get another job.' Show less «

The biggest difference for me is momentum. On a smaller film you get to shoot sometimes four or five scenes a day and you've got to do the tight schedule. I think I really feel the luxuries of a big budget film. Show less «

To act with a tennis ball and imagine it's a tentacle, or if you're in some kind of wilderness film and you go, 'Okay, we can't have a grizzly bear here, but imagine when you step over the rock there there's a grizzly bear.' I don't know. They're tough moments. Show less «

That's one of the great privileges, being an actor, is that someone pays you and sends you off to learn about something that otherwise you'd never know about. Show less «

There's the pressure of being a No. 1 on the call sheet, being a lead actor. There's almost this feeling like being captain of the team. You want to put a bit of energy into actually setting a good example. Show less «

I'm a pacifist.

I can't sing or dance.

Whenever you deal with science fiction you are setting up a world of rules. I think you work hard to establish the rules. And you also have to work even harder to maintain those rules, and within that find excitement and unpredictability and all that stuff. Show less «

I'm hardly digging trenches for a living. I'm getting to tap into my boyhood fantasies of being a larger-than-life character.

It feels good to be fit and strong.