Bubblegum Quotes

(On being a professional actor) I started acting at 18 years old because I got a lead role in a movie. It wasn`t like I was a kid going, "When I grow up, I want to be an actor." So I think what drives me is I found something very young by mistake that I could do. But that doesn`t necessarily mean I love it all the time. Because it`s not lovable. The process of acting itself for me is really simple. It`s not brain surgery. You take the character, and you play it as naturally as you possibly can. That`s it. There`s no greater or higher purpose. What makes acting difficult is the business end of it. Because no matter how genius an actor is or how many millions of dollars he makes, he can look back in his past and see a sea of rejection--even the people who are at the top of their game. Just because someone is like Leonardo DiCaprio doesn`t mean he gets to do anything he wants. He has to fight for those roles the same as anybody else. Now, he is fighting on a different level, but it`s still a fight. What`s difficult about the prospect is trying to reinvent your self-confidence, even though it`s constantly being torn down. And, of course, for every 10 people who like you in a film, there`s 10 people who won`t. I read one critique of me in Velvet Goldmine that said I had all the charisma of chewed bubblegum. I think I kept that one in my scrapbook.

I was singing about six notes higher than I had to, in a range that kept me up in a bubblegum sound.

(On his feud with bubblegum rapper Ja Rule) Right now he`s desperate. He should be talking about me, not Eminem and (Dr. Dre) and everybody else. He`ll lose, he knows that. The route that he has to take is the "I`m a mad gangsta" hardcore route, and ain`t nobody gonna believe him.