If I had gone to drama school, I wouldn't be sitting here now because it would have blanded me out; it would have just turned me into another actor.
In 'There Will Be Blood,' my character was someone who was an actor himself almost. He had a rehearsed quality about him. He was a performance artist in a way.
As an actor, I felt I couldn't compete. I wasn't as cute as the leading man; I wasn't as brilliant as Robin Williams.
Actors will never be replaced. The thought that somehow a computer version of a character is going to be something people prefer to look at is a ludicrous idea.
All my career, I've said this: Critics and producers think audiences want actors that only present the silhouette and hit the points in the silhouette. What I do is too dangerous.
A writer can write in an attic, or on top of a bus. Or with a sharp stick in some wet cement. To act, an actor has to have words. A stage. a camera turning.
If you write interesting roles, you get interesting people to play them. If you write roles that are full of nuance and contradiction and have interesting dialog, actors are drawn to that.
I think I did have fantasies about being an actor. In fact, I know I did.
For me, I always have to establish a reality for the character. In very actor-y terms, you just have to understand his reality.
The thing about being an actor is that you turn into other people. You have to hide yourself a bit in order to let that other person come out.
As an actor, you're like, 'Yeah, I want that phone call from Peter Jackson saying, 'You're my first choice for Thorin Oakenshield.'
There's editing, and scripts to read and edit, and casting, and all the elements of production that just sort of take up the normal downtime that you would have as an actor. So there's not a lot of that for me.
I think I've been lucky, being my frequent appearances on Court TV have brought to me another level than just the actor guy.
As an actor there are times when you're sitting around and wishing you were working, so you've got to just take it when it comes.
Honestly, I would not advise any actor necessarily, if he was really thinking of his career, to come out.
I acted in junior high in the junior high school group, and then when I got into senior high I was, you know, the main actor of the senior high school.
If I had my way, all actors over 55 would be issued a 3-lb. wet salmon with which to slap the face of every young, beautiful, successful upstart.
I am not an insecure actor, and this reflects in the films I have done. Yes, there was a phase when I was adamant on solo hero roles, but that is over now.
Eventually, in '84, we made a film for a little over a million dollars - with American actors that was shot in English - that was shown in Finland A little action film called Born American.
It is joyous for any actor to enter other grounds of consciousness and thought. At the end of the day, we just all like dressing up and playing around.
I can't watch myself on screen without dying a little bit inside. And there are lots of moments when I think, 'What am I doing as an actor? I can't act!'
