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Quotes
 It
was the first time that I understood that acting was an art form. It was
not Clint
Eastwood on a horse, Bob Hope in a road movie. It was not Don Knotts
in The Incredible Mr. Limpet. These are favorite movies of mine, too.
But when I sat in Last Tango in Paris, the lightbulb went on. To this
day, Brando is the one I want to meet, and the one I'm terrified to
meet.
Their
argument was, Everybody else is going to start copying the show, so why
not us? My attitude was, Well then everybody else do it. Don't rip
yourself off.
Basically,
we are a whole world of people desperately trying to figure out what is
the dark side of our natures and how much can we explore without
becoming something else.
I
didn't want to play a lawyer. I didn't want to play a doctor. I didn't
want to play a single dad. I wanted to do something I felt I could learn
from, something that would be a challenge and something that would not
dry up.
I
get a lot of stuff from Germany - stuffed bugs and tarantulas.
I
want to live and work in Chicago for the rest of my life. You know when
you were growing up and you wanted to become president? What I want now
is to be mayor of this damned town in ten years.
I'd
lulled myself into the insularity of competence. I'd forgotten that, to
do good work as an actor, you have to keep alive that part of yourself
that's rebellious, that's an outlaw, that's... that's stark, raving
crazy.
I'm
sure as hell glad all this movie stuff happened when I was thirty-two,
when I'd had all those years at Remains to build a viable perspective.
If it'd happened to me when I was twenty-three, I would have been one
helluva mess. I'd hate to be Rob Lowe. Poor bastard.
I've
been telling anybody who would listen that I wanted to do a series for
the last 10 years. But I wouldn't do it if I was just another cop
pushing bad guys up against the wall.
I've
never been in this business for the recognition or the awards. I just
want to do good work, grab a decent paycheck, and move onto the next
job.
If
I stayed a football player, my career would have been over 20 years ago.
As it is, my knees are shot. I found I got the same good feeling in
acting that I had in sports, but I found I could have a more profound
impact on people.
Maybe
they know my name, maybe they don't, but we're going to get that damned
play on, even if I have to hit a liquor store.
Now
I'm seen by more people in one episode than I was in 20 years of theatre
and movies. It's gratifying to have an impact on 25 million people a
night, but I can say goodbye to my lunch-pail life as a working actor.
I'm scared I might be a celebrity.
One
of the things I love about theater, one of the reasons I'll never give
it up, is that it's fifty percent the audience's responsibility.
Sure,
I always chose rebels to identify with - I still do - but to me a rebel
isn't so much someone who breaks the law as someone who goes against the
odds.
Thomas
McGuane's characters are always a little quirky, but they're so rich, so
expressive. There isn't an actor around who wouldn't kill to play one of
them.
We're
getting to the age when we're starting to see that responsibility isn't
such a bad thing, when we see maturity as the key to sustenance.
It
took me two months to get that part. I mean, who the hell was I? I
wasn't going to sell that picture.
Theater
in Chicago will always be my first love. It started careers for me and
about 50 of my friends. We all love coming back. As soon as the TV show
is over, I'll be back in Chicago, doing live theater.
The
greatest thing that ever happened to me in terms of my acting was the
audition for To Live and Die in L.A. After I read, William Friedkin put
down the script and said, 'You got the part.' I really thought it was a
joke. I went back to my hotel room and took a bath and they called and
wanted to make a deal. I still didn't believe it.
I
was only 21, and there were many things I didn't know. I was trying to
be a man and I wasn't ready for it.
After
'Manhunter', I had to actually kill off the character. I cut off most of
my hair and dyed it blonde. I changed my whole look just to get rid of
him.
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