“Sex, drugs and rock and roll.†—Wolf Hall author Hilary Mantel on how she’ll spend the $80,000 bonus that comes with her Man Booker prize [Guardian]
“I knew that if I did the work properly, I would end up going to places and looking at things that I normally would not. But I went to those places, and I looked at those things — at mortality, at family, and at the prospect of a future without me.†—Viggo Mortensen on accepting his future death for The Road [Times UK]
“The best way through it, I’ve found is to be oneself. That’s not to say that I am Hamlet. But he demands of you a very honest and a very revealing performance.†—Jude Law [Guardian]
“Back in the day, I was very present and self-conscious as I wrote. Now, I’m not self-conscious at all. I just sit there and write until … It’s Batman, you can’t write yourself in a corner. If you do, you’re like (pretends to type), ‘The Penguin shows up and all hell breaks loose. Robin takes him out, everything’s cool.’ You can’t fail.†—Kevin Smith on writing Batman: Widening Gyre while stoned [USAT]
“I’m writing it slowly but surely. I have a producer but I don’t want anyone to know who it is until the record is done, in case it flops.†—Adele is optimistic about her next album [Female First]
“I did see a priest for a while, a great one who stopped me from blowing my brains out. We’d go in the basement, he’d pour me a glass of wine, we’d smoke cigarettes, and then we’d pray. But I needed a shrink too, so I forced myself to go. I had to learn not to let people push my buttons, find out what was triggering all this rage, and stop throwing things away. I’ve barely missed a therapy session in over a decade, and that takes willpower.†—Mickey Rourke [Female First]