Screenwriting is always about what people say or do, whereas good writing is about a thought process or an abstract image or an internal monologue, none of which works on screen.
I'm leaving the screen because I don't think I am very good in the pictures and I have this beautiful dream that I'm elegant on the stage.
In 1998, I was screening 'Good Will Hunting' at Camp David. And I was saying, 'Nice to meet you, Mr. President. Nice to meet you, Mrs. Clinton.' Madeleine Albright, Sandy Berger, Senator Daschle. It was an extraordinary day.
I mean, the nation in which we live - and the world in which we live - is so extraordinarily more like a future than the futures that we're being sold on the screen and on television.
The tricky thing becomes: Do you know yourself well enough to then portray that on screen? And for me, I find that really hard. I'd rather hide behind accents and funny walks.
One forgets too easily the difference between a man and his image, and that there is none between the sound of his voice on the screen and in real life.
My show is my statement. What I have to say is on the screen. My life is my own. I don't want to talk about my private self. Why should I?
People tell me that my appearance in real life is better than on-screen. Perhaps people think I am exactly like the characters I play on TV.
I love jokes that come out of nowhere. The ones where people look at the screen and go, 'What the Hell was that.' As long as it somehow ties back into the story, somehow.
I think the president should be accessible, should answer questions that aren't pre-screened, but I think there should be a little bit of dignity to the presidency.
I even found it difficult to watch myself playing on TV because I couldn't identify with the person on the screen. I couldn't get to grips with it. It was as if it was all happening to someone else.
I discovered Orson Welles in college; my freshman English professor screened 'Citizen Kane' for us, and I wound up writing a 20-page term paper on it.
I'm currently doing Undeclared an American TV show set in a college. It just got aired and got massive ratings so hopefully that'll screen in the UK soon.
I mean, I do believe that when you walk on the stage, or onto the screen, that's your character - not you. So it's an interesting challenge, an interesting line to walk.
The target audience goes back to conception. That means pre-natal care, safe delivery, post-natal screening, and the ordinary stuff you do in pediatrics.
I remember turning 'The Sopranos' on once and within two minutes nearly throwing a brick through the screen.
I think the reason I have secrets is because there are a lot of things I haven't been able to let out, and I'm able to let them out through the screen and this medium.
I now hate actors that blink too much on screen. When people blink, I turn the movie off. So I don't blink at all.
I appreciate the response and the support of fans, of people who actually don't mind watching me on screen... I just don't ever want to jeopardize that.
When you read something in script form, there are some subtleties that stand out with far greater gravitas than sometimes what you see on screen.
I remember seeing some little wrinkles in my early 30s and thinking they were interesting. But you know the horror of it is that the screen image has to be perfect.
