James Caan Quotes
-
I'm sort of a Walter Mitty. I got fewer brain cells than most people, so when I got friendly with cowboys, I started rodeoing. When I was calf-roping, there was something about the dirt that made me feel clean.
-
There's a big difference between wanting to work and having to work. And I had to learn that the hard way. Now money is very important to me, because I ain't got it.
-
My acting technique is to look up at God just before the camera rolls and say, 'Give me a break.'
-
There's nothing more boring than actors talking about acting.
-
My least favorite phrase in the English language is 'I don't care.'
-
People wonder why first-time directors can make a brilliant picture, then suck on the second one. It's because they're a little terrified the first time. So they listen to all the experts around them.
-
You have to be very careful when you let someone win.
-
Some guys say beauty is only skin deep. But when you walk into a party, you don't see somebody's brain. The initial contact has to be the sniffing.
-
My kid was a great baseball player. I thought I had it made. Front-row seats at Yankee Stadium. Then he turned sixteen and wanted to be a rapper.
-
I think we have to believe in things we don't see. That's really important for all of us, whether it's your religion or Santa Claus, or whatever. That's pretty much what it's about.
-
I've never been difficult to anybody or with anybody on a picture. Especially when you're in that nice status of hierarchy of actors and actresses who get to approve directors. Because once you make that choice, it's my belief that the director's boss.
-
I didn't have parents I could take a million dollars from. We were a lower-class family.
-
Actors have bodyguards and entourages not because anybody wants to hurt them - who would want to hurt an actor? - but because they want to get recognized. God forbid someone doesn't recognize them.
-
I never saw my dad cry. My son saw me cry. My dad never told me he loved me, and consequently I told Scott I loved him every other minute. The point is, I'll make less mistakes than my dad, my sons hopefully will make less mistakes than me, and their sons will make less mistakes than their dads.
-
I always thought of myself as some sort of athlete until I started playing golf a couple years ago.
-
I lost my passion for work. No, that's a negative statement. I just had a bigger passion for something else, for my son, and growing up with him.
-
I know what winning and losing is when you gamble.
-
It's always more interesting to play the villain.
-
People say, 'Gee, you do a lot of mafia movies.' I think I've done two, out of 60.
-
I never did anything else. In college I switched majors every two weeks, and acting was the only thing that held my interest.
-
I really believe that you grow up a certain way in New York. There's a New York morality, a sense of loyalty. You know how to win and lose. There's a thousand kids outside, you know who to push and who not to push. There's a sixth sense you develop just because it's New York.
-
I rodeo-ed for nine years. That's my other life.
-
It's always the guys who have absolutely nothing to give that start screaming and yelling about their makeup and trailers. It's a diversion so you don't pay attention to them, because they stink!
-
I loved 'Funny Lady' for whatever reason. People say they didn't know I could sing and dance. Well, nobody ever asks me - it's always, 'Punch this guy.'