J. K. Simmons

My overall quest is always to do something that's somehow different from whatever it is that I just got done doing. If that can include occasionally playing an older guy who has a romantic side and a romantic relationship, than that's a real treat.

There's another film - a little Greek movie - that hopefully is going to get some distribution here in the U.S., called 'Worlds Apart,' where I also play a 60-year-old guy who looks a lot like J.K. Simmons, who has a romantic relationship with an appropriate woman.

I read a very romantic book when I was young, when I was in college: Rilke's 'Letters to a Young Poet.' And I've always felt that if you are in any kind of an artistic, creative endeavor, and you feel there's something else you can do for a living and be happy, I think you should do something else.

I never listened to the Grateful Dead as a teen the only exposure I got was what came through the walls when my sister was listening to them.

I do respond well to a director, a teacher - someone who doesn't accept mediocrity.

I come from a family of educators. My sister is a college teacher. My dad is a college teacher, but first a junior high teacher.