It's not hard for me to access a bad actor. That's always there. It's actually kind of a load off your mind because, the worse you do, the better it goes.
Alden Ehrenreich
I've been in movies where so much of the conversation was about, 'Well, after this movie, you're gonna be the biggest movie star.' I sort of have learned that you never really can predict any of that.
Paul Newman made eight of my favorite movies. He chose a certain kind of movie I really identified with.
There's movies that I would've loved to be in that I just wasn't even considered for because they need a name. And that happens so frequently that, after a while - from a creative standpoint - you just want to be able to have that opportunity to work with the best people. That opportunity is available to you with a certain level of notoriety.
My parents weren't involved in show business, but my parents would show me. We'd watch old films in the house. Little film festivals of Westerns and stuff like that when I was a kid. I knew I wanted to be those guys in those movies before I knew what being an actor was.
My feeling is that I don't really care about the genre or the size of the movie. I care about the quality of the writing and the quality of the characters.
My parents were big film buffs.
My mother always cultivated my imagination from the time I was very little.
I really think that movies are the most popular form of story telling ever and have such a huge impact on culture when they do. So I really want to be a part of those movies that say something good to a lot of people.
I feel about romance the same way I do about a vocation: it's a calling. You have an inner intuition, an inner 'yes.' I don't know if it's destined or not, but certainly I couldn't imagine being the person I am today without the romantic experiences I've had.
When you work for the Coens, they are so fun and so organized. They treat everyone with such respect.
I don't have social media, and I'm not, I guess, that adept at being on the Internet.
I just really want to continue to play those roles where I really have something to do, and mainly, above all, work with people that I can learn from - directors I think are so great.
I was told one time never to go longer than an hour in an interview because you reveal yourself too much, but I never follow that rule.
An era that I specifically like is sort of late '50s, early '60s. I guess mid '50s, too. I like these types of films that deal with post-WWII America and this more complex leading man that kind of emerges from that.
Acting-wise, I've had all these experiences. Yet when I look at certain people whose careers I admire, they've gotten to play so many different characters.
My mom wouldn't let me do child acting.
Every movie I've done, it's always the same criteria: finding a great story, and finding a great part to play.
If I tried to somehow wrap my head around the fact that Francis Ford Coppola directed my first movie, there's never a slot into which that ever fits in your mind.
I remember when I was 13 and telling people I wanted to be an actor, and being met with, 'Have fun waiting tables,' so I figured maybe that's not such a great idea after all.
This movie 'On the Road' with Kristen Stewart - they were trying to make that movie for 30 years. She says she wants to do it, and they can finally make it. You have so much at your disposal if you're in a successful commercial film.
I'm glad that I had the upbringing I did where I was just part of what everyone else was a part of. And prom and all that.
When I was a little kid, my parents would show me Marx Brothers' films and westerns and stuff like that. That's where all my desire to be an actor comes from and probably most of my understanding of acting comes from for sure.
Some movies, I think, present ideas of the world that just don't help people with their lives. They just present things that are fleeting or stupid. So that's what I'm careful about - making sure I'm part of something that is saying something that I think is valuable in the world of people, not necessarily in the world of art.
For me, the drive is storytelling. To be a part of an art that tells a story and to be a catalyst, a color in that, is very exciting.
The aspect of kind of living in your imagination and creating a more romantic vision of the world than the reality that you're given - that's definitely something I can sort of relate to.
I haven't worked enough to worry about getting typecast, but I do as a film lover didn't want to be working with the bad guys. I didn't want to be making a movie I thought was contributing to a lower base of movies that I just didn't think were helping people, really.
I would say that it's mainly about the director. It's a hard quality to find, but I always know whether I want to do something or not. The character is important to me, as is getting to work with people that I feel like I can learn from and make a great movie with.
I'm an actor because I love movies, and always have loved movies. I'm a film buff.
Each film and each character is a completely new set of challenges. It doesn't feel like you can rest on something you may have done well in the past.
Even though I grew up in L.A., no one in my family was in the movie industry. I've always felt whatever the opposite of disillusioned is. I guess illusioned with movies and with people in movies and things like that. It's all exciting to me.
I remember pretending to be the characters in the movies when I was a little kid.
I've had that experience many, many, times - when you don't get roles. I'd developed a good muscle for shaking it off. I buy myself a present whenever I don't get a role that I really wanted. You get bummed out, and then you go, 'Oh! Now I get to go buy a present for myself.' That kind of helps.
It's funny: the reason I did 'Beautiful Creatures' was the same reason I did everything else - even though it was a genre film and existed at a more studio level, the script and the characters were so well written.
I had a meeting with the producer of 'Five Easy Pieces,' which is my favorite movie. He introduced me to Francis, and I spent six months going to Napa and Buenos Aires, auditioning for Francis and doing these incredible improvisational games. It was a very bohemian audition process.
I think now I'm more realistic, but I'm still very much an idealist.
I think it would be frustrating having to do things you wouldn't want to do, having to make movies you didn't like.
My favorite one... it's hard to pick a favorite. But the one I really love a lot is 'A Serious Man.' I just love, love 'A Serious Man.'
I've had a couple opportunities where I've been on the other side of the audition process as a director, so it's really reassuring to me that it's just about who is right for that role and less about if you ace the audition. It's just about getting to know people, not about who's a better actor a lot of the time.
My parents used to do these little film festivals in our house where we'd watch all the Marx Brothers movies, or Chaplin movies, and a lot of westerns.
If I had to do a lot of promotion as a kid, it would have been very intense. I'm really glad I got to go through high school, have a college experience, and have the last five years since then, just... being a person.
The people I see every day have known me since I was a little fat kid.
I did my first film with Francis Ford Copploa, which spoiled the hell out of me.
It's always been very important for me to be surrounded by people. It's never been enough for me to be successful alone. I want to be around people my own age who are also doing things I can learn from.
To be honest, you go to a bat mitzvah in Los Angeles, and you can count on at least a few industry people to be there.
Oh, I've been ridiculously lucky to work for, I'd say, five of the greatest directors of all time... and a lot of other great people, too.
I feel like some of the best roles that I've gotten to play I could've never preconceived. These things happen to you in an unexpected fashion, so it's hard to pre-imagine what that would be because some of the best opportunities I've had I could've never anticipated or expected.
I think, for me, the only real value to fame, stuff like that, is that you can then have a lot more creative power to get certain movies made and to do certain things.
With 'Running Scared,' I originally wanted to do a piece that was going to be about a couple, and the whole thing would be based on wall posts on Facebook. So the idea started there.
When I was 12, I decided I was only going to watch Westerns for a few months.
