God bless America. God
save the Queen. God defend New Zealand and thank Christ for Australia.
I
don't make demands. I don't tell you how it should be. I'll give you
options, and it's up to you to select or throw 'em away. That should be
the headline: If you're insecure, don't call.
I
really feel sorry for people who are, who divide their whole life up
into 'things that I like' and 'things that I must do.' You're only here
for a short time, mate. Learn to like it.
I'd
move to Los Angeles if New Zealand and Australia were swallowed up by a
tidal wave, if there was a bubonic plague in England and if the
continent of Africa disappeared from some Martian attack.
I'm
an intense bastard when I'm doing my job. I don't suffer fools and I
don't wanna fuck around. I want you to be ready and prepared. Let's go,
man. If you come to that set and you don't know your lines, what the
fuck have you been doing? You don't deserve the job.
I'm
not one of those fellows that is just going to have a psuedo-middling
relationship.
If
I don't get the goose-bump factor when I'm reading it than I can't do
it.
Living
in LA would be like unrolling my swag in the office. I just don't think
it would be healthy, mate.
Meg
Ryan is a beautiful and courageous woman. I grieve the loss of her
companionship but I've not lost the friendship. We talk all the time and
that was what our connection was about. She has a wonderful mind and we
just like a chat.
People
accuse me of being arrogant all the time. I'm not arrogant, I'm focused.
Reality
is, I'm an actor and an entertainer, and I really wouldn't know what to
do with another profession.
Some
of the things you read you get an immediate reaction to so I've stopped
reading things now. I do worry about my family though. Some people do
try some nasty things to get at them and try and get a reaction from
them.
The
important thing to me is that I'm not driven by people's praise and I'm
not slowed down by people's criticism. I'm just trying to work at the
highest level I can.
The
people who don't have a good relationship with me from a good
performance point of view are very few and far between.
There's
nothing like sitting back and talking to your cows.
When
I was a little kid, I used to really embarrass my parents.
One of the most painful things of the LA
Confidential character I played was that the author, James Ellroy, kept
telling me that Bud White wasn't a drinker. I said, 'come on, this
is 1953. He's a blue-collar bloke, a cop. You're telling me he
doesn't sit around with the boys after his shift and have a beer?' And
Ellroy says, 'absolutely not.' So for five months and seven days I
didn't have a drink. It's probably the most painful period of my
life.
[on winning the Best Actor Oscar] If you
grow up in the suburbs of anywhere, a dream like this seems kind of
vaguely ludicrous and completely unattainable. But this moment is
directly connected to those imaginings. And for anybody who's on the
downside of advantage, and relying purely on courage, it's possible.
It's not really what I'd call a movie. I was
stunned that Miramax wanted to buy it. I mean it's really rude. It
showed me in a really bad light. It's also shoddily made. It's cobbled
together. -- expressing surprise that a low-budget documentary of his
band, 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, has been picked up for worldwide
distribution.
I'd move to Los Angeles if Australia and New
Zealand were swallowed up by a huge tidal wave, if there was a bubonic
plague in Europe, and if the continent of Africa disappeared from some
Martian attack.
I felt this tap on my shoulder and I turned
around and, you know that De Niro fellow? Well, he didn't say a word. He
didn't say 'Hello', 'Good evening' or anything or 'Hi, I'm Robert'. He
just looked at me and he nodded his head and he smiled. And he walked
off. - About meeting Robert
De Niro.
You don't have to like an actor to do a
scene with him. You don't have to like a director. But it's just better
if you do. And I think, you know, you've got to begin that with respect.
All that stuff, this public persona of me -
let's call him 'the wild man' - that is not helpful. It doesn't make me
more of a box office draw. It's the quality of my work that makes people
want to go to my films.
I always say I've given 24 insufficient
performances and I'm looking forward to the time in my life when I'll do
something that I think is good. There's always stuff you can do better,
stuff that maybe you didn't uncover enough. But if you do something that
you truly believe is perfect, then that's got to be the last movie you
do.
I'd like to play passionate women, but no
one will let me.
If there's anything about someone's life
that's important enough to make a movie about it, I have to take
responsibility to get all of it right. It's a huge responsibility.
The older I get, the crotchetier I'm going
to get about that integrity. I don't think, just because you have the
public's attention, it's now a prerequisite for you to completely sell
out your moral center. I don't think that's OK. If I ever stop being the
guy that can answer your question straight and look you in the eye and
give you my opinion, then I should stop making films.
I'm still excited by it. I still love the
process. I want to make movies that pierce people's hearts and touch
them in some way, even if it's just for the night while they're in the
cinema; in that moment, I want to bring actual tears to their eyes and Goosebumps
to their skin. That's what motivates me, and it may sound strange but if
you're not focused on the audience, why are you bothering to make a
movie?
He has disappointed me many times over the
past years. [About Robert
De Niro]
