Working hard is great, being lazy sometimes is great, but failed potential is the worst.
Campbell Scott
Most of us... are simply just trying to get through the day. And wait for those times in their life that are markers, that put things into relief. That's why we like movies and books so much.
I just wanna get to the end of the day without it raining.
I hate to tell you this, but there's an entire subset of people out there who think of me as quite a dull actor. And that's the word used, and often - dull.
Directing is: you're overwhelmed the whole time. Your mind never stops. If you care about it. You wake up in the morning and you begin thinking about it and then you go to sleep at night and you're still thinking about it.
I make little movies, you know, they need all the help that they can get.
In the editing room, 20 percent of the time you're using stuff from before the actor knew the camera was rolling or you're taking a line from somewhere else and putting it in his mouth.
Movies, I don't really get the bad guys. In theater, I get more bad guys. Both audiences and directors are more willing... to allow people to stretch. In movies, you do one thing, and then that's their reference.
I had been to New Mexico many times. I loved it. It's a very exotic, interesting, severely crazy environment. I don't know if I could live there all year. It's such an intense place.
Since I was from the theater, that's how I learned how to go through the process of being a character. That's how I learned, and that's what I was comfortable doing. And then, the first feature films, I'm sure I was no fun because I did not want to be spontaneous in that filmic way that really can work for you.
After I directed, when I went back to being an actor, I was like, 'God, this is the life!' Because you only have to concentrate on one thing.
The whole fame question is one that is constantly intriguing to me. I think that fame is something that other people create about you. Whether you jump into that or not is up to you - and whether you have the talents for jumping into it or not.
To me, it's just like, if you have talent, and you're lucky enough to find where you fit, and you work with the right people, it's not exalted at all.
Actors are conditioned to develop a system for expressing as much as they can in the shortest amount of time because you're going to get all cut up in a movie.
I always consider Shakespeare like a huge room. I mean, you open the door, and you can go anywhere.
I know it's good when I see a smaller film get recognized because it means more publicity for them. When you start producing and directing the movies become a little more like your children.
There's no doubt in the world that directing makes you a better actor. Me, anyway. There's no doubt in the world that it makes me a more collaborative actor.
Actors aren't all the same. They have very different skills. There are actors of intellect who are very thoughtful about everything they do... and then there are actors of instinct who don't know what they're doing until the cameras roll... My father was actually quite thoughtful about what he did, while my mother was much more instinctual.
What we do at its very, very best, at its very, very most, will shift us slightly in our seat. If only for two hours, great. If for the rest of our lives, even better.
The reason I got into acting was not to explore myself. I was a reader, I didn't care about acting. I got into it in college, but I had no interest really in that, in getting up in front of anybody.
Part of the advantage, and part of the result of trying to be a producer and director, are the practical things, you find. It's so advantageous to go to a place that you already have a feel for, a literal and spiritual familiarity.
As you get older, I think everyone feels that, no matter what the job: to try a hand at running the business as opposed to simply being an employee.
I tend to turn down roles that are too much like me, what I think is most like me anyhow, because I'm me all the time and I'm sick of it.
The fact is that you're never gonna believe any of the reviews, because the movie is to you what it is to you. No one's ever gonna sway you from what you feel about it.
I'm not a big one for lots of genitals flapping in the films.
I think people tend to live, whether they like it or not, influenced by what's next door to them.
I only made two studio movies, that was a long time ago and obviously I removed myself. I think some of that is geographical. I live in New York and I want to work there, it's as simple as that.
The fact is, it's hard to release movies.
I'm known as a kind of dramatic, serious, almost humorless actor and the fact is, I'm a funny guy, and I spend most of my life trying to find a lighter side of things, and on stage was given plenty of opportunity to do that.
I learned, especially from my mother, to respect the profession and take it seriously, but not take yourself too seriously.
Television and cable have become the new independent films, in a sense, for writers and actors to gravitate towards. That's why I like short films, too; I love doing readings, audio books, working with young filmmakers; anything that keeps you from getting blase about yourself or in a rut.
I worked with Lukas Haas a long time ago, when he was younger, and he was wonderful.
If you're playing a good guy, you show some darkness. If you're playing a dark guy, you show something different, like humor, that will mix it up and hopefully surpass the audience's expectations. What I'm battling all the time is complacency in the audience. I try to bring a little mystery to what might happen because that engages people more.
I love that I'm rarely recognized. I like it because I know I can look different from film to film.
When you produce and direct, your movies are different to you. They're not just something you act in.
When you're young, you don't care about your parents and what they're doing. But then you get to your 20s, and you start watching their movies. And then you become an actor, as I did late in college, and then you're really watching them. And they were really very good.
I'm not always angry. In fact, I think I usually go out of my way to try to find roles that don't seem to be like me.
Think of the difference between a team sport and one that you do by yourself. Like it or not, if you're by yourself, you're going to be faced with a lot more of your own doubts and your own drawbacks and your own whatever.
I just got sick of not being able to raise money for a movie - that's what happens, so I just made my own.
The nightmare of a film career, or at least the challenge of one, is that you're rarely going to get the opportunity to explore character because once people see you in one thing, you know, they want to see that again.
Details are the only thing that separates one movie from another.
In the film world, and I know this from just talking to other people, that I'm known as a kind of dramatic, serious, almost humorless actor, and the fact is I'm a funny guy, and I spend most of my life trying to find a lighter side of things and on stage was given plenty of opportunity to do that.
Everybody loves a villain - let's face it.
'Breakfast at Tiffany's' isn't a great movie because Audrey Hepburn is brilliant and everyone else isn't. It's a great movie because everybody is fascinating, and she is at the center of it being amazing.
You can't, no matter what anyone says, build a movie around someone.
Shakespeare is rich and beautiful, and it can be an amazing experience to read and to watch and to work on.
Practically, I am interested in television because it keeps me home and it's fast, and I exist in independent films mostly, and you don't get paid for those, or you don't get paid enough.
