As I got older, with my work, I became aware of the responsibility of film, and I feel one of the best ways I can apply myself as an actor, is to go beyond movie stardom and celebrity.
I never made the movies for the critics; I've done the best I could with the material and the directors and the actors I had. But the thing that's really exciting is that once I do that one project that's different, that stands out, everyone's gonna ...
I'll probably not be the best actor in Hollywood, and I am okay with that. But I will be the hardest working one, and I'll be the one that people like to work with because I show up on time, and I don't complain.
I also want the chance to work with some of the best actors in the business, because that's where you can learn so much by just being on a set and getting a feel for how they approach their role and how they work with you.
I try to steal from the best. Suck it all in. 'Taxi Driver' is really a bible for film actors, a master class. A lot of emotional power, a lot of emotional depth but it's contained and you just see the tip of the iceberg.
In acting, you are fulfilled if you give justice to your role... if you are able to do a credible performance and touch the audience. Same with directing. If you are able to draw out the best from your actors, then you fulfill your job as a director.
We all have ups and downs in our career, and as an actor going through a rough patch, all I can do is keep working as hard as I can and hope for the best.
As a director, I've been able to combine with what I've learned as an actor and as a producer: it melds quite nicely into what I feel like I should have been doing all along.
Mostly, I have to say as an actor, to find a character that's been rich enough for 10 seasons of shows... that's very rare.
An actor is someone who pretends to be somebody else. A movie star is somebody who pretends that somebody else is them.
I eventually became an actor, starting with doing stand-up comedy in New York and then theater wherever they would let me. Finally, I moved out here to Los Angeles and got on a show.
I'm just a believer in keeping all of the creative brain cells moving and working even when you're not working because the inevitable loneliness and boring drought in the actor's world, it can eat you alive.
When it's all said and done, I am secure enough with my manhood to say to the world, 'I am a male actor, and its okay for me to play a gay man.'
How do you play 'righteous'? Do you just kind of stand up straighter? What does that mean as an actor? You don't really play a quality.
Every actor has to move in a Terrence Malick film - that's the requirement. If you stop, he'll tell you, 'No, no, keep moving.' You can't be static. It's a choreography.
I always see myself as a character actor, but Remington Steele was me. I gave up on trying to be any character. I just put myself as me in this world of Remington Steele and the grand pretender.
I've been fortunate in my career to have the opportunity to pick and choose the parts I play. I've also been lucky to always be involved with quality actors, quality directors, quality writers.
Sometimes I think your intellect can get in your way as an actor or an artist. When you come from a world of improv and comedy, you're able to let it flicker and fall out.
Film is an emotional medium; it's not a logical medium. It's not an intellectual medium, so every decision you make as a filmmaker and an actor has to be emotional in some way, even in the rejection of logic.
Creative people are very insecure people because they don't know whether people like them or are in awe of them. That insecurity always comes out. It makes them a better actor, I feel.
Most actors I know come from a screwed up background, so it makes sense that if you can walk on to a space and recreate your reality, then that's the place that will become very dear.
