I think there really are a lot of people in the world who probably feel like they've done so much in life, made so much of their talents and ambitions that they feel the need to bequeath it to someone.
I left acting for 15 years, and I think it's really nice to have another life. I took too much for granted when I was younger. I didn't really want to be an actor. I didn't really love it. And so I made a lot of mistakes. Oddly, I care much more about it now. I feel like a complete novice.
I feel like people think of me as someone who really believes in a "sex as empowerment" philosophy, like Sasha Grey or something, when actually I feel like I'm much more what a lot of liberal feminists would call "sex negative" than most women I know.
I think you can overthink dealing with fame. To an extent, you've got to put yourself out there, but I feel like your work should really speak for itself, and I don't feel the need to go and make everyone like me because, to be honest, I'm not looking to be friends with the world. I'd much rather people watch the things that I'm in.
I would only listen to certain things, like a lot of teenagers do. But the Tragically Hip is a ribbon that's been with me pretty much my entire musical life. Every mix tape I ever made had at least one Hip song on it. Right from the outset I feel like Gord Downie built so much room into his songs. There was so much space in them that he created. He made me think of songwriting as full of boundless possibilities in a way that - well, that a lot of songwriters do, but that was the first time I thought a song could really contain multitudes.
I guess in my own life I don't really think much about manliness too much. I feel like a lot of men that I know don't sit around thinking, "How am I supposed to be a man?" I don't think that I have to prove anything.
I'm apologetic when I feel like I've made a mistake. And when I have done a disservice to myself or someone else. But I don't feel a need to apologize for doing or saying something that I think needs to be said, just because it may not sit comfortably with somebody else.
People talk about this 'bucket list': 'I need to go to this country, I need to skydive.' Whereas I need to think as much as I can, to feel as much as I can, to be conscious and observe and understand me and the people around me as much as I can.
I feel very strongly influenced by long-form box-set TV drama... I feel really excited that, at last, the novel has found its on-screen equivalent, because the emotional arcs and changes that you can follow are just so much more like a novel, and so many amazing shows recently have done as much as film can do to show the interior world.
I think there's a lot of people going through different things where you feel like your whole world's imploded, and you feel like you lost it all, whether it's physical, emotional, whatever you're going through. If I can be that beacon of hope for people that need it the most through dancing and through our storytelling, then I've done my job.
I think that my music is really honest and I think I have something to say. The world revolves around so much negativity that I feel we really need something positive right now. I think people need to be encouraged to strive after those things that seem impossible. That is one of the common themes that runs through my record.
I feel like only now in my life do I really get it -- do I feel that sense of calm. And I feel very grounded. I feel much more confident. I feel, you know, sexier, more intelligent, more to offer, more wisdom, more life experience to draw from.
It's very common to think that we're always evolving, that we've changed so much from our younger selves, that within decades we've transformed into these different people. We like to think that. I feel in some ways that I am still so much my younger self. There are ways that I'm different: I feel like I'm wiser and kinder. But I think a lot of the impulses are still the same. I learned that.
People are trying to act like they're balling all day with cars, their house, like there's no problems. I feel like a lot of people are trying to be someone they're not, and when you're just yourself, life is so much easier because you don't have to keep up this facade.
When I realized that Reuben was a young man who really wanted to be taken seriously, because he was dismissed for being too good looking or because he had too much money - his character really came to life for me. I began to understand that, and see that a lot of people feel this way - misunderstood because of their talents or gifts or background.
People that come to my shows are definitely people that feel outsiders. They feel like I don't feel sexy, I don't feel like - I can't go out every night on Friday and I can't connect to that, and I feel so much pressure to do that.
But I kind of reframed my thinking, where I don't feel like filmmaking is what defines me anymore. Like, I feel like I'm much more defined by my family and other things in life that, that I feel are much deeper to me.