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Quotes
The problem with me is, I guess, the way I
express myself, you have to be with me 50 years before you can get a
sense of what I'm talking about.
I'd like to be remembered
as the only man who lived to be 250 years old!
It's
easy to fool the eye but it's hard to fool the heart.
My
first language was shy. It's only by having been thrust into the
limelight that I have learned to cope with my shyness.
My
weaknesses... I wish I could come up with something. I'd probably have
the same pause if you asked me what my strengths are. Maybe they're the
same thing.
We
start to realize that there are anodynes in life that help us through
the day. I don't care if it's a walk in the park, a look out the window,
a good bubble bath - whatever. Even a meal you like, or a friend you
want to call. That helps us solve all this stuff in our head.
I can't say I've been sober though. I don't
like that word. What does it mean? 'Sober! He's very sober'.
There are times when I have a temperament.
Yes, my temperament is there ... but I hope I'm gentle. Yes, I think I
am.
My first language was shy. It's only by having been thrust into the limelight that I have learned to cope with my shyness.
When I try to explain anything I always end
up trying to be right usually, but not truthful necessarily. Trying to
give the right answer or what I think is the right answer. It's a human
instinct. You try to be as clever as you can be. You're trying to come
off like you really know what the hell's going on, when you don't!
I'm single and I don't particularly like it.
I'm certainly the kind of person who prefers ... it ... it ... It's good
to have someone in your life that you're going through this thing with.
It's good. That's a thing in life that I aspire to.
I like what Norman Mailer said about
alcohol: 'Drink has killed a lot of my brain cells and I think I would
have been a better writer without it, but it would be one less way to
relax.'
Did you know I started out as a stand-up
comic? People don't believe me when I tell them.
In the end you're just playing a role. [on
whether acting and his roles reflected who he is]
I'll tell you something. And this is a fact.
When I was doing 'Scarface', I remember being in love at that time. One
of the few times in my life. And I was so glad it was at that time. I
would come home and she would tell me about her life that day and all
her problems and I remember saying to her, look, you really got me
through this picture because I would shed everything when I came home.
That's right! That's right! We know the best
feeling in the world is the one between the second and third martini.
That was my deal. I just enjoyed who I became when I was drinking, so
that was something hard to break. I became much quieter, and funny. I
must say, that kind of thing came out.
I hope the perception is that I'm an actor,
I never intended to be a movie star.
I'm constantly striving to break through to
something new. You try to maintain a neutral approach to your work, and
not be too hard on yourself.
I guess you find yourself repeating certain
motifs. But at the heart of it all, I'm an actor, always looking for a
role. And then you try to make things fresh.
People always said that time, the '70s, was
about pretty boys, and then I came along!
One hopes to find out about the [movie]
you're in while you're doing it, not several years later, which is
usually when I find out. I'm like, 'Wow, that was a dud! I didn't know,
nobody would tell me!' I've done things for certain reasons, but it
[comes from] thinking on your feet... Sometimes actors do things not
because we have a great desire [for it], but because it's work, and I'm
starting to wonder about that.
But I was just lucky. People like Coppola
were making films, and I got opportunities.
I couldn't exist just doing films. But on
the other hand, there is the fame that comes with it, and the money. My
problem is I still want to play Hamlet in some little theater somewhere,
and time is running out." -- quoted by Robert Osbourne in
"Academy Awards 1974 Oscar Annual
As an old village poet put it to me in the
1960s. [If you dig it, it's yours]. I dug Sidney Lumet back then. I dig
him now because what he had to give, I took and made it mine. I'm
forever grateful along with all the other actors and writers who have
benefited from Sidney's genius. Presenting the Lifetime of Achievement
Award to director Sidney Lumet at the 2005 Academy Awards.
We know each other's minds. We have shared
some things that are personal to us, such as our roles. I know Bobby
through his roles. But, then, I don't think we actually talked about the
actual work of actors. - on his friend and Heat (1995) co-star Robert De
Niro
I remember seeing things that Bob had done
in the past, and very recent times, and have been taken with the work so
much that I even wrote [him] about it. Some of his great work -- which
is plenty -- I was staggered by the subtlety of his portrayal and the
warmth, which is what we often talk about with Bob among us actors who
admire him so. It is the warmth and the way he approaches things. - on
his friend and Heat (1995) co-star Robert De Niro
Gene and I are two people not very similar.
We had to play a very close relationship, but I just didn't think we
were as connected as we should have been. We seemed apart. We didn't
have altercations, we didn't hate each other. But we didn't communicate,
didn't think in the same terms. Gene and I were thrown together, but
under ordinary circumstances we'd never cavort or be friends. It was two
worlds - but I have to say that I was as much responsible as he was. -
on doing Scarecrow (1973) with Gene Hackman
The challenge? It's always a challenge of a
sort. It's a challenge to get up and go and leave your family and go out
there in all different parts of the world and do a picture and try to
make it come alive...You're still challenged for that. I mean, it's the
same story. It's just not changed. It seems to be the same thing it
always was. It's this effort. If you get excited about a thing then
things are generally a little easier. If you get enthusiastic and you
want to do something and you feel you are into something then things
start to come. But usually to find the enthusiasm and the appetite,
that's the challenge. - On whether or not acting is still challenging
for him
Coffee' is done, I got a couple of little
important things to do about it, like little tiny things, and THEN I
will unveil it. It's not a movie that you put in a...It needs a certain
environment to flourish in. It's just the way it is. It doesn't make it
better or worse than the picture. It's just the way it is, the nature of
it. - On why his film Chinese Coffee (2000) has yet to be released
I've always believed, I always hoped...I
don't think I know what I'm saying when I say this, but I was hoping
that we could have a museum where we had films. That there was a museum
where films were, like, hung. Like paintings. And you went to the
museum. I got the movie _Local Stigmatic, The (1989)_ that I made. It's
52 minutes and everybody has seen it now because I've personally got
them in to see it, to show it to them and I paid them for it, too. But
it's over at the Museum of Modern Art and I love saying...This is really
pretentious of me, this is what I really like. I love to say: 'Oh, it's
at the Museum of Modern Art. Isn't that great?' 'Have you released it?'
'No, I never did.' I love saying that, you know? 'How come?' 'Because I
didn't feel like it.' It's fun to do that.
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