I like to come to the set with very strong ideas and strong opinions about how to do things. And I like also dealing with somebody who’s like that.
One person’s religion is another person’s cult.
When you read, you think, and when you smoke, you think. It’s a pleasurable thing, and not a duty.
I had a father who was a traveling salesman.
I’ve grown to really love musicals, you know?
I feel like I made a little bit of difference.
Ultimately, I think writing is a mixture of craft, inspiration, and being incredibly, courageously explorative with yourself – and being brutally honest, too.
The film is made in the editing room...
I have a fine level of recognition in the business and among the acting community now, so I consider myself one of the lucky ones. If I didn’t think that, there would be something wrong with me. I’m grateful and thankful for what I’ve got.
I think Magnolia is one of the best films I’ve ever seen and I can say that straight and out and anybody that disagrees with me I’ll fight you to the death. I just think it is one of the greatest films I’ve ever been in and ever seen.
Life’s pretty funny when you’re objectively on the outside looking at it.
The weight comes off, you know? If you stop with the bread and the pie, it really does. It really works.
My love for the theater has always been a priority. That hasn’t changed. I got into acting that way. The film work that came up was really a surprise.
I don’t want to repeat myself.
Bob Glaudini, the writer, he’s a wonderfully talented man and all his plays and his screenplays, they all have sense of something bigger, even though you’re looking at something very simple.
I think I’m less anonymous than I was.
I think you ultimately have to love who you’re playing. You have to have that kind of feeling. You have to have passion for the person.
Sometimes it’s hard to say no. Ultimately, if you stick to your guns, you have the career that you want. Don’t get me wrong. I love a good payday and I’ll do films for fun. But ultimately my main goal is to do good work. If it doesn’t pay well, so be it.
There’s something in the very small minutia of life that tells us something about the big, big picture that we see every day all over the place, and so I think the more specific and creative and revelatory you are in the micro, the more powerful the macro will be.
You have all the influence you choose to have.