Hollywood Royalty

MIRREN: It's not that you want to play the role; you're inspired by it. It's not as if you're sitting there going, "Oh, I would have been better." [ Pause ] Well, sometimes you are. [ Laughter ]

BLANCHETT: There's a moment in "A Streetcar Named Desire," where Vivien Leigh has just gone into the bathroom, and Marlon Brando's banging on the door, and she opens the door and his hand flinches . It's the most astonishing shot. This guy that Brando could have played with complete brutality, and [instead he shows] his vulnerability, in that hand.

DICAPRIO: I wanted to ask everyone something: we all talk about being "in the zone"--becoming our character--but there are so many technical things that happen when you're making a movie, it's impossible not to realize that there's a camera there, and your character has to emote this specific emotion. Those moments where it all disappears, and you're really speaking as this other person? I'm lucky if that happens more than once on a movie.

PITT: I find alcohol helps. [ Laughter ]

When you're watching a movie, are you always aware of the actors' technique, or can you get lost in it the way we do?

MIRREN: Completely lost.