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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."
William H. Macy -
I have a tendency to say 'yes' to a script or no to a script. Not 'yes' based on a rewrite.
William H. Macy
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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.
William H. Macy -
You have to do whatever you can to limit the things that could make you feel insecure.
William H. Macy -
At the end of the day, what actors really want to do is act a lot and not wait around in the trailer.
William H. Macy -
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.
William H. Macy -
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.
William H. Macy -
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.
William H. Macy
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One's complete sentences are attempts, as often as not, to complete an incomplete self with words.
William H. Macy -
Here are the good things about independent films: They do the more interesting, chancy scripts. They're run by love.
William H. Macy -
Nothing else counts except what you want.
William H. Macy -
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.
William H. Macy -
The emotions will take care of themselves. You don't have to prod them along. As a matter of fact, you get in trouble when you prod them along.
William H. Macy -
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.
William H. Macy
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We, in America, are so screwed up when it comes to sex. That's all we can see.
William H. Macy -
The only people who do plays in LA are people who can't get jobs in TV shows.
William H. Macy -
It started with the Godfather, this operatic violence. I don't know.
William H. Macy -
Making a mistake means overshooting a scene, shooting too many takes, for instance. Long after you've got it, you just keep shooting.
William H. Macy -
I've written a lot of scripts that someone else directed, and it's absolutely vital that, if I'm gonna act in it, then I have to take off the writer hat and let the director direct.
William H. Macy -
I really love hanging out on the set, and I love the life, and all of that. But I don't think I could stick with this profession if it weren't for those 15 minutes a day when I get to act. That's the part I love. For some strange reason, it's the time that I'm the least self-conscious in my whole life.
William H. Macy
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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.
William H. Macy -
I love directors who talk action as opposed to emotion.
William H. Macy -
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.
William H. Macy -
I've got two little girls, I'm not scared about sex. I'll teach them, it's not going to kill them. But what could kill them is violence. Guns, drinking and driving, these are the real dangers in our society.
William H. Macy