Nathan Lane Quotes
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A video taped stage performance is just - you know, it's never gonna be the same as it is if you're sitting there live in the theatre.
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Not to sound too pessimistic, but I just don't see me having the film career that I maybe hoped for after 'The Birdcage.' I think people just didn't know what to do with me.
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It's certainly not a shock to find that the industry has no imagination. I think people don't know what it is I do. Because half the time you're talking to people who are in their 20s, and I've been doing this for over 25 years.
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People have to do things in their own time, and that's what I did.
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He's so interesting because you think you know Dennis Hopper, but you don't really know Dennis Hopper. I don't really know Dennis Hopper, I just know him from the silver screen.
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'The Producers' is a sort of a once in a lifetime kind of phenomenon, and I was grateful to be a part of it.
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I was born Joseph Lane, but when I applied to the actors union, they said they already had a Joe Lane on the books and I'd have to change my last or first name. I had played the character of Nathan Detroit, whom I liked very much, in 'Guys and Dolls,' so I took the name Nathan.
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I am not a sad clown. I am not a sad clown.
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Look, I'm 40, I'm single, and I work in musical theater - you do the math!
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I think of myself as an actor and not a movie star. I like doing movies; I enjoy it. But, essentially, I'm a theater actor. That's the only place I feel like I actually am a star. In the theater, I can put people in the seats and sell tickets.
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I have my aluminum siding business, and that's going like a house afire.
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A sitcom is the closest thing for me to doing stage because you work in front of an audience, and if it's well written it can be very satisfying.
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I seem to always inspire a strong reaction one way or the other.
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I can remember seeing the movie for the first time at a revival house in L.A. and laughing with everyone else, and never imagining that I would be doing Max one day, even though by then I had already memorized the entire movie.
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The reason I was in most of the movies I've done is that they paid for me to be in the theater.
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As a kid, I loved 'Godot' because of the poetry and the humor and the strangeness, but then as you get older, it's much more resonant.
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But in order for anyone to become successful, sometimes you have to be that driven and focused, and maybe there isn't a lot left over for personal relationships - although I certainly have had them. It's not as if I cut myself off, but it makes them very difficult. This profession is very hard on relationships.
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The more competition, the better. I hope to get snubbed again this year.
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My oldest brother used to take me to the theater. The first play he took me to see was 'Black Comedy,' then he took me to see 'Butley.' We'd see all these British plays. And 'Hello, Dolly,' with Pearl Bailey. I was unconsciously thinking, 'Gee, I would love to be able to do that.'
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There's a freedom there and an understanding of my career and the things I've done. I'm seen here as primarily a comic actor, which is OK, but I can go to New York and I do something that's very emotional. It would be lovely at some point to do something like that on film.
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I had to develop a sense of humor I'm sure it's a defense mechanism. It was, 'Before they make fun of me, I'll make a joke.' Being funny is just a point of view about life in general. Sometimes it's born out of difficult childhoods, where you have to develop a sense of humor. Ultimately, it's a gift.