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Quotes
 It's
like when I buy a horse. I don't want a thick neck and short legs.
A
couple of guys won Academy Awards for the things that I turned down.
Today, after coming to terms with everything, after being in therapy for
a long time-there are areas where I will compromise.
A
lot of the stuff I am now seeing is edgy, raw kinda material.
All
I am hoping for is to be able to work-I think my best work is still
ahead of me-I think all that I have been through in the last several
years have only made me a better, more interesting actor.
All
that prosthetic makeup drains you. By the time it's lunch, you're done.
Comeback
is a good word, man.
Doing
physical or fighting scenes in movies is really the hardest part, so
wherever I could have the stunt guy do it, I'd prefer to have him do it.
Eric
Roberts is one of the great actors ever. I just worked with him a bit
again on Spun-but he had some problems, health problems that have made
it tough on him, but he is working again.
I
always knew I'd accomplish something very special - like robbing a bank
perhaps.
I
did think for many, many years that because of my ability I could beat
the system. And I was wrong.
I
didn't really cultivate a relationship with people in the business.
Maybe I should've-or could've tried to. I feel like I'm playing the game
now, and it hurts a little bit. But I realize if I want to work at all,
I've got to.
I
got beaten up pretty good in some of the bouts, busted nose, broken and
compressed cheekbone. I was also dealing with other stuff in my life,
relationship stuff. I also had done a movie for a lot of money that I
considered to be a complete sellout.
I
had a bonding problem when I went off and boxed for five years. I was
over in Europe and Asia fighting because I wanted to do something
different; I was tired of acting. But the thing is, when I was done
doing that, I couldn't get a job.
I
had a lot of anger inside me and that came out at times that were not
particularly advantageous to me career-wise.
I
had some things I had to fix. It took me 14 years to do it. But it was
never really fun back in the day to work with directors who were a lot
older and were like authoritarian and talking to you like that.
I
love sports and I wanted to do something competitively one more time
before I was a goddamned geriatric. God, when you're in your 40s, what
sports are left? Fishing?
I
never look backwards. I have always been an athlete. I boxed before I
acted.
I
started to shortcircuit because I had high aspirations for the film. I
never told anybody that.
I
trained like an animal, but the thing is focus and concentration. When
the bell rings it's like when the little red light goes on over the
camera. And I can usually nail my lines on the first or second take
because I'm right there.
I
was very immature when I was young, and for me there was no balance.
Everything was just all or nothing.
I'd
never been to Mexico City before-it was crazy there.
I've
been very fortunate. It was nice working with Robert Rodriguez, who I
think is a very interesting guy. There was a time, two years ago, when I
couldn't get a job with a director like that. But it wasn't the
directors-it was the studio guys.
If
you don't make movies that make a lot of money, then it's very hard for
you to continue to do the work that you want to do.
If
you make interesting choices where you put you ass on the line, the
results are either going to be really special or really terrible.
It
was either therapy or die.
It
was the most fun I've ever had on a movie. It was one of the happiest
times in my life. I was living in New York, and I really enjoyed acting
at the time. Also, it's funny because that was also the time when I went
downhill.
It's
the formulaic studio movies the make money, and when they do, the actors
in them are automatically movie stars.
One
of the first movies I ever made was Rumble Fish. And it was a major flop
hero-maybe three people saw it.
They
have great strip clubs in Austin, Texas, so I would have my fan club...
I would have the girls come up and we would, ah... talk.
What
I've got to do now is let them judge me for who I am as an actor and not
for my notoriety.
Years
ago I realized that maybe I made mistake, politically, when I turned a
lot of that stuff down. I would go off to obscure places and make movies
that six people went to see.
I
thought my talent would transcend my outspokenness. I was wrong. I'm
willing to give them 100 per cent this time. I just want a second chance
at Hollywood.
I
lost the house, the wife, the credibility, the entourage. I lost my
soul. I was alone ... I'm sort of OK with it now, but the first time I'm
in there, pushing a fucking cart, getting my supper. I used to go to the
24-hour place in gay town, so no one would recognize me. The only thing
I could afford was a shrink, so that's where my money went. Three times
a week for the first two years. The year after that, twice a week and
now I'm down to once a week. I've only missed two appointments in six
years.
You
get desensitized to pain and for three and a half years I developed
these symptoms of Brain Damage - you forget what you did the night
before. You have to get out when the doctors tell you to, otherwise
you're on queer street for the rest of your life. One doctor said to me
before a big fight, your neurological report doesn't look too good. I
was like four fights away from a big, big fight and he said, 'Mickey,
how much are they paying you? Look at your tests - you won't be able to
count the money'.
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