William H. Macy Quotes
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Emotions are the natural result of striving for something. Every single scene has two or more people in it, and nobody wants the same thing, so they are negotiating this one way or another. The result of that negotiation will bring out all kinds of emotional stuff in you.
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The actor has the advantage - or the liability - of knowing, "It's going to be my face up there on the frickin' screen, so I better keep my wits about me. Nobody's going to care that I was bad because I was not happy. They're only going to know I'm bad."
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I do want to do TV, but I'm looking to be a creator, writer, and producer, and perhaps I could be a recurring character. Do 10 shows a year, something like that.
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The Spirit Awards are great too, they'll say anything because they're not televised. Another great drinking night.
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One of the things I did early on in film was over-enunciate and talk too loud.
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There are statistics out that say 20 year olds, 18 years olds think about sex 90 percent of the time. They only don't think about sex when they're eating, and that's rare.
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If I like the story and it's well written, and it's a character I want to play and they'll pay me, then I decide to do it.
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It sure is boring to be around people who are in character all the time. I always find it's closer to mental illness than acting excellence.
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I think what all actors share is that, somewhere down in your solar plexus, there's this fear that you're not going to be able to come up with the goods, that this is the one movie where you're going to look like a fool, and they should have cast someone else. And you feel ugly, and you've got three chins, and you've gained too much weight, and you're losing your hair, and there are so many better actors who could do this. But if you've got chops, what you realize is that everybody feels that way, so just show up and do the job.
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I have a tendency to say 'yes' to a script or no to a script. Not 'yes' based on a rewrite.
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All modesty aside, I think I'm good at reading scripts. The way I read a script is as fast as I can, all in one sitting, and I don't read many of the stage directions. I only read enough stage directions to let me know where I am, because they're always so verbose and mostly horseshit. So I only read the dialogue, which allows me to see the movie in my mind's eye in real time.
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Nobody became an actor because he had a good childhood.
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Everyone hooks up with George Clooney. He's a genuinely cool guy. He's using his powers for good.
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At the end of the day, what actors really want to do is act a lot and not wait around in the trailer.
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I'm not much of a preparer. I think sometimes as an actor you need to go out and learn some skills, but in terms of preparation for understanding the character, it's all on the page, and if it's not on the page, you're in trouble.
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I was a dog in a past life. Really. I'll be walking down the street and dogs will do a sort of double take. Like, Hey, I know him.
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If I had my choice, I would do the same little independent films, but they would have $100 million budgets, so I could get paid a fortune and hang out in a huge trailer.
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Nothing else counts except what you want.
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The reason they came up with the ratings board is that there are a lot of movies out there, and parents need some guidance. Not only for the kids, but for adults, as well. If you don't like to see a certain kind of film, there should be some rating, so that you know what you're getting into. But the present system doesn't work.
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We, in America, are so screwed up when it comes to sex. That's all we can see.
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Making a mistake means overshooting a scene, shooting too many takes, for instance. Long after you've got it, you just keep shooting.
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Ninety percent of the preparation we do as actors is just jive. It doesn't do anything.
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It started with the Godfather, this operatic violence. I don't know.
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It's not good for people to have the safety net too low... People can take care of themselves better than we allow them to.