Living with reality is a very good trick. It gives you tremendous freedom and it changes the structure of molecules of your soul by living through reality because you don’t expect anything anymore, which is a weird paradox.
Acting is about listening and reacting. John Wayne was right: Acting is just reacting. You don’t have to do much – as long as you stay out of the way of others. That’s why it works.
I love to have a laugh. I like to tease people.
I don’t mind being a commodity. It’s given me a good life.
My weak spot is that I don’t like analyzing so I tend to be a bit lazy; I tend to get bored quickly, which means I must be boring.
There is nothing to be scared of in movies. It’s a bit scarier going on stage.
I never make conscious decisions. If my agent says to me, “It’s a good script,” I’ll do it. I don’t plan. I’ve got a lot of things to do. I’m at the roulette table and my luck seems to be running at the moment. I might as well stay there until it runs out.
It’s very difficult to liberate yourself from what you’ve learned. You know it’s almost impossible because you learn in order to survive.
I’m having a great life. And I’m 73 and they still phone me up and ask me to do a job here and there.
If you have high expectations you’re going to get resentments and all kinds of tension.
I’m glad I’m not young anymore. I don’t want to start all over again.
Non-expectation, non-acceptance because the expectation leads to resentment and depression, so I have no expectations.
I love the hour in makeup. It gives you time to think and have a cup of coffee. It’s my favorite part of the day.
I have no education, I have no academic background in painting or in music, but I write music and I compose music and I write and I sell paintings, and my rule is, well, they can’t arrest me.
How do you play Hannibal Lector? Well just don’t move. Scare people by being still.
I think doubt is a very healthy way to live.
I like to work. I don’t like to disrupt my equilibrium. I don’t like to change my head. I’d rather be a third-rate actor. It’s a job, and I’m dedicated in my way. I enjoy it. I’m serious about it. But if it doesn’t come off, I’m not going to die.
When I was a young guy, I knew everything. Now I know very little. I know less and less as the time goes on.
You have to have humor. If you don’t have humor and you take yourself seriously, you’re dead in the water. You have to be jostled. I love it. You’ve gotta have a laugh. It’s better than working for a living.
My weak spot is laziness. I have a lot of weak spots – cookies, croissants; my wife is always lecturing me about this, I tend to put it all down as habit or it’s just acting.