Before I made the film the term 'Armenian genocide' existed only in the dustiest recesses of my mind. Then Atom suggested I read Clarence Usher's 1917 book "An American Physician in Turkey." That was the beginning of my education..... I don't know why it was kept quiet for so long. Perhaps there's only so much historical misery we're capable of handling. As germane as it is in today's world to be reminded of how brutal we can be to one another, it's still hard to reach into the bag of snakes that is our history.
Montreal Gazette 9/7/02

Human nature continues to horrify me with it's ability to do harm to one another. I guess we just have to keep telling these stories a lot to remind ourselves what we're capable of.
Inside Entertainment 11/16/02

I've never done this - I've never played an actor and certainly never played an actor who you get to see act and then break out, so you get to play two characters. And it shifts underfoot a little bit. It's a little slippier than what I'm used to and that's attractive, of course.
Ararat Press Kit

It's a movie-within-a-movie that takes place in Turkey, and I play an American missionary -- or actually, I play a movie star playing an American missionary.
Saturday Night 1/17/01

on working with Atom Egoyan:

Yeah, it's a no brainer. I say, 'Where do you want me? When do you want me? What do I wear? Can I have dialogue?'
Inside Entertainment 11/16/02

It's an entirely different kind of process with him. The family that's here - I've worked with him for years and years and now I know everybody. And ...It's not that the process is effortless. But it's REALLY comfortable..and nurturing..and all that stuff that you just don't.....Once you've been in this business long enough, you realize you don't get that for free and you don't get it that often. When everybody's just here to do it because they love it.
Ararat Press Kit

What I love about Atom's work is that inevitably, you meet characters you would think have no common trajectory but who eventually not only intersect but deeply affect one another in a myriad of ways. Then all the straight lines of time begin to waver and the wavy lines begin to boil. That's the genius of Atom's style and one of the reasons I'll work with him anytime on anything. Hell, I'd come in and deliver a pizza for him because I know it would be a totally new experience.
Serendipity Web site

When a director directs you, you're doing it for him. It's between you and him....Atom is actually excited to hear an actor's response to a character. He comes in with the script. You come in with your interpretation. You talk, and it grows from there. I can't really think of another director I've had that with.
National Post 9/1/02

It's hell, but I have a problem -- I just want to go back and be abused.
Toronto Sun 11/13/02

He suffuses you with his belief in you and it's empowering, it's really liberating. That's a great sentiment to fill a room with. That's a great sensibility to have as an example. So it's really, really positive (as an acting experience).
Toronto Sun 11/13/02

What co-star David Alpay has to say about Bruce Greenwood

I'm a big fan of Bruce Greenwood's from (the TV drama) Nowhere Man and everything like that. I saw that his name was attached to a movie called Ararat, and that triggered something. So I looked into it and about a month later, I saw they were doing a casting call for extras. I thought it would be kind of neat to be an extra in a Bruce Greenwood movie.....The irony of it, of course, is that I never had any lines with Bruce Greenwood. Maybe next time.
Toronto Star 11/15/02