Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Acting is an imaginative leap, really. And imaginations prosper in different circumstances. And it's being able - I can't tell you how one does, but one tries to read those circumstances correctly.
I held down as many jobs as I could find, from being a waiter to working at a yoga studio and as a ticket-taker at a small theater company - anything that would allow me to go out and do auditions.
I'd be terrified even now for a Latin kid wanting to be an actor, but back then? Forget it. They must have thought I was going to be working in restaurants and driving cabs for the rest of my life.
I got to have a great big knock-down, drag-out fight with Sylvester Stallone. Every actor should have that much fun at some point. You can hit him as hard as you can, and it's never enough for him.
As I got into high school and after puberty, I was a little more inward. I was a real extrovert when I was little, but I don't know, I just got quieter... With my friends, I was still an extrovert.
I look at the calendar. If it's a nice place, I go, like I did in London when it came to choosing to do a film. I always choose the best locations. New Orleans. That's fun. I'm available. Let's go.
I think I can be closed in. I can close this outer shell, cut myself off and be quite cold. I can cut other people off if I need to. I don't think I'm angry, though... Maybe my wife would disagree.
Most Americans take their freedom very seriously, but they don't realize that not everyone is free. The repressed are not free to do what they want. That's what 'Star-Crossed' was all about for me.
I started pulling gags on Al [Pachino]. That was the moment I realized that he was absolutely out of his mind. I mean that he's certifiably insane. I wouldn't spend a night in a room where he's at.
I'm loath to use my personal life to promote what I do, but at the same time, I don't like a journalist going away with no more than you could get off Wikipedia, where most of it's invented anyway.
I was loved as a kid; I was raised with more love and emotional support than most folks could wish for... my memories aged nought to ten... are all bound up together in a mesh of innocence and fun.
Robin Hood is often seen as the hands-on-hips, archetypal, tally-ho hero. But, realistically, the one calling the shots wouldn't be at the front shouting about it. He'd be the one you don't expect.
I was just a kid and I didn't have a dad. That's hard, because when you're a kid, you blame yourself for everything. And I blamed myself for him not being around, for my parents not being together.
I love Tom Wilkinson and Tommy Lee Jones as well as Jessica Chastain. But the person I look up to most, not because I identify with her roles but because of who she is as a person, is Sissy Spacek.
From an acting standpoint, you've got to continue to trust your gut because, ultimately, only that will result in a better product, making the audience more happy and resulting in the right payoff.
Singing doesn't have to mean that you sound like Stevie Wonder. I love to sing. I'm not the greatest singer in the world. But, a lot of my favorite singers aren't the greatest singers in the world.
I only took a high school acting class because there was no other class I wanted to take. I loved it, but I was always against acting as a profession. I didn't like the monetary fluctuations I saw.
Nobody wants to know what I'm doing 24 hours a day, they'd be painfully bored, trust me. At the same time, if I'm doing something interesting or funny, I like being able to share that with my fans.
I don't really understand why I should be a role model but I know that children do look up to me, so it is my responsibility to motivate people and be inspiring. I hope that I can do that for kids.
And as a filmmaker, I'm trying to unhook myself from this idea that unless you have a brilliant, long, enormously lucrative theatrical run, that your movie somehow failed. And I don't believe that.
The majority of fathers that I saw when I was growing up in Vancouver didn't take the responsibility to look after their kids, and I was aware that society is geared towards punishing single women.
If you're playing the character, you could say to yourself in 16 different ways, 'What if that didn't bother me?' 'What if I knew exactly what he was talking about?' 'What if I didn't get excited?'
If you read a script enough, especially a good script - I try to read it 40 to 50 times before you begin so you get a sense of the arc: what happens before, what happens after, what happens during.
I only want to do the kind of work that I would like to go and see, that`s going to teach me something new, that involves working with people I can learn something from and I can give something to.
When a television show like 'Scandal' becomes the biggest show in recent history, suddenly advertisers and networks want to jump on that. And what it's showing is that people want to see diversity.
'Game of Thrones' is a good one to binge-watch, except you realize at the end of every episode that you've been holding your breath for, like, 30 minutes, which is probably not good for your brain.
Russell Means is quite a legend in the Indian community for what he's been able to achieve. It was a real honor to work with a guy who's been on the front lines of fighting for what he believes in.
Maintaining patience, being generous, and helping your peers takes time, and no small amount of emotional fortitude. But it brings an exponential difference in your team's ability to problem-solve.
I wanted to do something heroic if I was going to be on TV. And the first thing that appeals to me once I have decided I don't want to be the bad guy is to find things that are not black and white.
I learned from the guys before me - Bill Cosby, Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, Richard Pryor, just to name a few. These are guys that let it all hang out. What they lived is what they took to the stage.
Christianity takes this beating that I really don't understand and yet you can't say anything negative about the Muslims because that's horrible, you can't say anything negative about other faiths.
You must find a way to express your ideas and compel your audience to react through the idea itself, and then figuring out what the best representative of that idea may be, and bringing it to life.
Usually the male control and domination that tends to be in our genes gets around a powerful woman who has the ability to make choices different from guys, it throws you off and you get frustrated.
Obviously, after 'The Matrix,' it was a case of, 'OK, I did that. What's next?' I mean, it's always like that, but more so this time. How do I change it up? How do I keep it interesting for myself?
I am far from sure when I am acting and when I am not or, should I more frankly put it, when I am lying and when I am not. For what is acting but lying and what is good acting but convincing lying?
We've been given this gift, our planet, and we've found no other place in the universe that we can inhabit. I want to do something to create radical change to help save it. It's our responsibility.
I had always functioned with dignity, wanting to appear intelligent, macho, never vulnerable or insecure. But now I realize that... a part of these comic characters is a fundamental part of me too.
Film is such a bizarre vehicle for acting. It's such a bizarre experience. I don't think you ever really get familiar with it. If you do get familiar with it, you're probably not that good anymore.
I've got nothing against L.A. I think it is a really beautiful place. To be able to surf and get out in the Pacific Ocean every once in a while. The hiking, all of that is amazing. I love it there.
I research the role, and if it's a literary character, I read the book, and if it's an historical figure, I research documents and biographies. If it's a fictional character, I work off the script.
It was very weird because for a long time no one really recognised me from my films, but 'The Hobbit' has totally changed that, and I've had some really special moments, especially with youngsters.
I like to see what happens to people when they're thrown into really crappy situations. I think it's really interesting to watch what decisions they make, how they deal with the feelings they have.
I enjoy my life. I think I have a very good life. And I think I'm very satisfied with the direction of my career and just my lifestyle and everything like that. So I wouldn't change a single thing.
I get carded for soda, you know, when I go to the supermarket. I mean, they card me for everything. You know, I can't even get through a hand of black jack without getting carded, like, five times.
I had read some books on the Baha'i Faith. I had read - I was looking into Buddhism and trying to understand sort of the agnostic approach, so there was just a bunch of stuff I was just looking at.
Who is that person that comes around and says, 'You are OK, you are worthy, you are special?' That makes all the difference in the world for many of us. Those are the people we appreciate the most.
The opportunity to live and experience life inspires me. Watching others not take it for granted inspires me. Using time to create something timeless through creativity and proactivity inspires me.
When people sit across from people - gay, straight, whatever - and they talk, they find out that people they may have been demonizing for their lifetime aren't the demons we've expected them to be.
My real baby is renewable energy. I feel like whoever starts to crack this nut is going to have a pretty clear shot at the White House. It's a $2 trillion business that America's being left out of.
I just want to do the best possible job with everything that I do. But I'm far more concerned with being a good father as opposed to being a good actor because that's what's really going to matter.