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Quotes
I couldn't see my father's films because they were restricted and we
didn't have videos or DVDs back then.
I did a play called
Throne of Straw when I was 11, at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles. It
became really clear to me at that point that I enjoyed acting more than
any other experience I was having.
I didn't realize
that television has gone through immense changes and has become very
progressive.
I think all of us
thought we were going to be around forever, I've never been a great
career planner. As I said, there are a lot of movies I'd like to throw
away. That's not to say that I went in with that attitude. Any film I
ever started, I went in with all the hope and best intentions in the
world, but some films don't just work. If I had thought a little more
about what I was getting into, I would have known that. I love to work.
I love what I do. But you can do too much.
Directing is an
extension of my thoughts of an actor. I couldn't direct a film like Dark
City. I don't have the kind of vision that Alex Proyas, or a guy like
Spielberg, has. That imaginative, visual scope. They get on a computer
and do weirdish shit, and I can't even turn a computer on. The things I
like to make are very focused, character driven pieces. Ordinary People,
that's a film I would like to make.
I know the camera only sees a part of
me, and how to work that, so when its broadcast you'll forget how silly
it look in reality. I hate watching myself because I always think I was
doing something different than shows on screen. When I direct a film I'm
acting in, my part is the first to get shorter. It flies away.
I liked the
ceremony, the ritual of preparing cocaine, as much as doing it. I did it
for a year, loved it, then stopped. Now I feel the same way about
cooking.
I realized I wanted
to act, and I stopped talking to my parents because I was too
embarrassed to tell them what I wanted to do. I ran away from school,
and I hid out until I turned 16. Then I had a frank conversation with my
parents, and I explained what I wanted to do.
My parents not only
did it for a living, but they were really good at it.
Stand by Me, Lost
Boys, Young Guns, Flatliners-all of those films were done in a straight
run, and I thought, This is how it's going to be for the rest of my
life. Then all of a sudden you're 22 and it stops.
There's a confidence
that comes from youth and not knowing better. But there comes a point,
as an actor, when you do know better, and that is when the fear starts.
I think that the day you've figured out
the differences between women and men is the day that you're no longer
attracted to women. It's the difference that is so fantastic and
frustrating and angering, and really sexy
When I saw Virginia
Woolf, somewhere between the first and second acts, someone I had known
as my mother became somebody else.
I once picked Sarah up
from school and swore to myself in the car saying 'Oh my God, I'm such
an asshole.' I looked back and she was in shock. I said 'Oh honey, I'm
so sorry, Daddy sometimes swears' And she said, "You could never be
that.' I was like..." and he scrunches his eyes as though about to
bawl. "She killed me right there, and she's always been like that.
In a weird way we raised each other. But I missed a lot and it takes you
a while to realize that you're never gonna make that up.
It took me a very long
time to realize I needed to be a responsible father and make her a major
part of my life. I learn new, amazing things about her every day. Once,
she made a [ceramic] cup for me, and I realized she had a grasp of
sarcasm when she wrote, 'My daddy is a saint.' Obviously she was joking!
She's a pretty cool musician, and we
play chess a lot too. If I can hang out with her and her friends, then
I'm lucky. Life's kind of moving on.
When I wasn't the
flavor of the week or month or day, those were hard times.
When we shoot 24,
there are so many things I have to worry about, from the script to
technical things to my performance, that I don't have a second to be
bored or take anything for granted. We produce 24 hours of film a
season, which is like making 12 movies.
Youth is an amazing
thing: I think back on when we did The Lost Boys, and I didn't think I
could do anything wrong.
One thing that moved me
to tears was a news clip of three firemen carrying equipment up the
stairs of the World Trade Center. They had a look of determination on
their faces that was one of the most honorable things I'd ever seen.
That unquestioning dedication to duty is something I would love to
instill in this character.
Now I know how Charlie
Sheen feels, I've lost all feeling in my lower half. - his reaction to
winning the Golden Globe Award!
My
mind went totally blank and my body went numb. It was a very surreal
moment....It was a great night. I admit I felt really cocky for about 24
hours, and then I had to go back to work - on winning the 2001 Best
Actor Golden Globe
When you're a young actor you like to
go for characters with a bit of flair, so in many films I ended up
playing the weirdo's. But I can assure you I'm not a psycho or a
criminal or a bully.
There are two kinds of event in rodeo
and bull riding's one of the roughstock events. I was into immobilizing
cows myself.
I couldn't figure out or try to justify
how insignificant I felt about making movies or television in the wake
of that kind of tragedy, especially compared to the firefighters and the
police officers and the schoolteachers and the people that actually make
our society move. About three weeks after the terrorist attacks,
somebody came up to me and said, 'Oh man, I can't wait to see 24"
and I almost looked at him and said, 'How could you talk about something
so stupid at such a time?' Then I realized - and this took me the rest
of the day to figure out - how could you not? You start to look forward
to things that will take your mind off of it. So you start again to find
your place.
You could say I was not on everybody's
first list to do the bigger films. Luckily other opportunities have come
along.
I think the most attractive thing in a
woman is a sense of humour. If someone can make you laugh, you've gotten
a lot out of the way
I got beaten up badly on Woman Wanted
with Holly Hunter. I was re-cut without my permission, distributors
didn't do what they promised. The result was a mess after a solid year
of my life. It's a nasty world out there. The top end of any industry is
cutthroat, without honor. People lie straight to your face, with a
smile. Los Angeles is like an adult Vegas to me - eventually you lose.
You have to know when to walk from the table, and two years ago I did.
You can't do all these interviews about
how wonderful you both are and then when it falls apart six days before
your wedding not expect people to have a shot at you. I know Julia and I
unwittingly asked for it. - about the much-hyped broken engagement to Julia
Roberts
One of the big draws of the show is
here’s a guy who is ordinary in a lot of ways but, due to his
profession, he’s placed in extraordinary situations that he has to
make right with action and with thought. That’s what is appealing
about Jack he takes charge.
Do I think it's important to the show
24 that Jack eventually dies and does so when you least expect it? Yeah.
It will be very obvious when people start going, Oh, please. How many
bad days can one guy have?
I've made films that I've given all I
had to, that no one has seen. The bottom line is I want to work and I
want someone to enjoy it. An actor would be lying if they told you there
wasn't a difference between a half full and a full house and what that
will do to your performance. The fact that you know that on any given
night 20 million people are going to watch what you do makes you excited
when you're working. |
