Ben Mendelsohn

“It's a tougher gig than what people think it is. The proper, real, genuine, worldwide movie stars don't get a lot of downtime from the world outside. That's a tougher price, I think, than what people's fantasy of fame account for.”

“I never felt like someone who was boyish and coming to terms with asking girls out or anything like that, which was what 'The Big Steal' and 'Spotswood' were about. But I guess that's the impression I left on people.”

“I wanted to keep working because work was essentially fantastic - you got to be around people, you got to be in a family, and that family changed from job to job. It was like being in the circus.”

“One of the things that I found very confronting in my early working life was that people thought I was some sensitive doe-eyed lovelorn boy, because they'd seen me do that a couple of times. What tends to happen is you get a run of similar roles.”

“I came from the outer suburbs of Melbourne, so you do learn how to survive in that environment.”

“As an actor who has spent twenty years trying to crack America, the day I reached the 'Bloodline' set and found my name on a chair next to Sissy Spacek's was the happiest of my working life.”

“The first 'Star Wars' film was enormously important. I grew up right smack-bang in the sweet spot of all of those. It's true cinema magic. It's fair to say that, as a kid, I would have been very happy to be Han Solo, and I would have been happy to have gone out with Princess Leia.”

“I got the first job and kept going. Once I got a job, I very much wanted to keep getting jobs, basically. I did try to learn what I could in those first couple of decades.”

“I think some of my favorite Australian films were shot by people that are not Australian. And I think when Dean Semler did 'Dances with Wolves,' for instance, that's a very different-looking Western than what you've seen much of before. It's very rich, color-wise. But we've got our own very proud thing going on.”

“For me it's a compliment, playing baddie characters. I take it as a compliment.”

“My general feeling about approach to work is that anyone that's there, they're all there to do the best job they can.”

“'Animal Kingdom' is a significant comet, and it's cast a tail. It's very hard to see anything post that happening without that.”

“The thing about home is that it's a tough place to sustain a career, just by dent of the size of the place. I had about as good a run there as anybody, but it's still a tough ask. I mean, the person I think with the best career in Australia is Ray Meagher, in 'Home and Away.'”

“I've spent various periods of my career being thought of as various things, various degrees of substance and ideas.”

“One of my earlier films is 'Quigley Down Under.' That was early on in my career, and that was horsey.”

“When you're a young boy, you're looking at older men for role modelling. Before I loved De Niro, I loved Clint Eastwood; I loved John Wayne. And James Bond.”

“I think difficult characters are very rewarding to do. They often have facets to them and this and that.”

“Before 'Animal Kingdom,' I wasn't particularly thought of in villainous roles.”