Leo Fitzpatrick

I met Roger Ebert at an independent-film awards or something. And he said, 'When I saw you just now, I wanted to punch you in the face. And then I had to remember you're an actor. So, congratulations!' Those are my accolades.

What I look for when I see a piece of art for the first time is some kind of emotional, intellectual experience, that's a combination of both of those things and is informed by my knowledge and something new that I see the artist doing.

If I'm serious, yes, I'd like to have done what Shakespeare did... to act and write. You learn so much from acting. One of our great writers, Alan Bennett, does both supremely well. When I write a story, I tend to speak it aloud as I'm writing it.