Mark Ruffalo

Mark Ruffalo: It's a difficult undertaking. I've been married for four years and I see this movie as a cautionary tale about people who've gone deeply out of communication.

Mark Ruffalo : think we've all been kind of... everyone's been hurt, everyone's felt loss, everyone has exultation, everyone has a need to be loved, or to have lost love, so when you play a character, you're pulling out those little threads and turning them up a bit.

Mark Ruffalo: I remember riding my bike down the boardwalk with nowhere to go and looking at the girls. It was really innocent.

Mark Ruffalo: I have a kid and I don't like parties and I did all my drinking and drug use very early on when I was in Virginia Beach.

Mark Ruffalo: I enjoyed growing up part of my life in Virginia Beach. We had the ocean and the beach and a beautiful landscape. We were outdoors all the time and we played outside.

Mark Ruffalo: I do readings at the public library. I just did a benefit scene night for my old acting teacher.

Mark Ruffalo: I became an actor so I didn't have to be myself.

Mark Ruffalo: Do theater. Because you'll develop a craft that you'll always have. It'll give you a chance to really learn how to act and you won't go into the world with a few measly tricks that will only carry you so far.

Mark Ruffalo: Commercials that are geared towards kids. I think they should just, like, wipe them out.

Mark Ruffalo: I love acting with kids, cause they're great acting partners. They're totally present. Even when they're acting, they're still available and you can crack them up or something weird will happen and they'll go with it. You can throw them little curve-balls and they'll go with it. I always like having kid energy around. I think it's good for a movie, even when you're doing dramatic stuff.

Mark Ruffalo: I want to do a western. Nobody does westerns anymore.

Mark Ruffalo: I don't like this idea of Method. I come from that school, but what I was taught was that it's your imagination. You do your homework, and you use your imagination. People use the Method as a shield; it shields them from being vulnerable. I hear all these young actors who are like, 'I'm Method, I'm gonna go live in the house, you know, I totally get it, I've done it, I've been there', but one thing I know is it kills spontaneity. They'll still give great performances, but they're not playing with the other actors - it's all about them. And spontaneity and vulnerability are gold on screen and on stage - they are the f*cking magic. When Brando reaches down and picks up that glove and puts it on his hand, that is magic. You can't plan that.(He is referring to a scene in On The Waterfront: Eva Saint Marie accidentally dropped a glove on set and, rather than wait for another take, Brando picked it up and put it on, without missing a line.)

Mark Ruffalo: Certainly, it's very easy to fall in love with cash. If you're going to make all your decisions based on cash, you're going to have a pretty naffy career.

Mark Ruffalo:The whole experience of getting close to mortality changed my perspective on work. I wasn't enjoying acting before: I felt like I wasn't in charge of my career. I wasn't doing things that made me feel good. I was really bitter, I thought I deserved more, and I wasn't grateful for all the great shit that had happened to me. If you're not grateful, then it's very easy to be an asshole. After the brain tumor happened, I realized I love acting, I've always loved it, I may never get a chance to do it again.

Mark Ruffalo: The true value of somebody in this town [Hollywood] is very hard to determine. It's all smoke and mirrors.

Mark Ruffalo: For some reason, my whole life has been, 'You can't do this, you can't do that.' The other day I was watching these kids crossing the road, and they have these crossing guards, kids who help other kids across the road. They would never let me be a crossing guard when I was a little kid . It would come up, I'd always raise my hand, I would never get picked . They thought I was too wild, but I knew I was responsible enough, if I was given that task.

Mark Ruffalo: With indies, all they have is their script and it's very important to them. The characters are better drawn, the stories more precise and the experience greater than with studio films where sometimes they fill in the script as they're shooting.