I liked being Doc Holliday. It’s fun to be insightful and aristocratic, to stand up for your friend and make sacrifices for him. It was fun to be arrogant like he was and have the goods to back it up. He was a very noble character. Although, let’s not forget, he did kill a lot of people.
There is no normal life, there’s just life. You live it.
Again, in Wag the Dog, war has to be declared by an act of congress. But if you go to war, you don’t have to declare war. You’re just at war and we did that, which is not legal.
I don’t think of my life as a cliche, but I’m a cliche eccentric. Complete with a strange name – I mean, who’s named Val? How many Vals do you know? I mean, really?
I don’t make any pretense about being normal. I’m not.
I’m very wary of news on television.
That’s the joy of art – it should be dangerous and challenging but it’s just art – it’s safe.
A hundred million dollars in the art world is a substantial amount of cash to do anything.
The trick to being a good actor is getting so involved in your character that the camera disappears, the 50 bored guys eating doughnuts disappear, friends disappear. To get to that point when you don’t have to think about it, you’re just acting and reacting in those circumstances.