Top 120 Quotes & Sayings by Joe Morton
Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American actor Joe Morton.
Last updated on September 17, 2024.
Hollywood, it seems, recognizes black film and black filmmakers, but like a distant lover, never close enough or long enough to forge a meaningful relationship.
James Cameron has always been way ahead of the curve in terms of the use of technology in his movies.
I think people believe that I give an aura of someone who has both feet on the ground.
Everywhere I go, someone stops me and says, 'Oh, you're that guy from 'Terminator 2.'' So, it's something that has, you know, been around me since the movie came out.
With my background, I came out of the theater.
When I first came into New York City, what I did was, I didn't have very much money, and I couldn't afford pictures or a resume, so what I used to do is I would tear off the back of a matchbook, and I'd write my name and telephone number on the back of the matchbook.
I was maybe one of two black kids in the drama department. It was, 'Well, you can't play this role because that guy has a white girlfriend or a white cousin or whatever.'
I think the thing is with a movie that has this much science fiction in it; you need characters who are more science fact, if you know what I mean, than they are human.
I want to put something on the screen that audiences have never seen black actors do before, roles that will widen views of who African-Americans are.
In most science-fiction pictures, the black guy is either an engineer or a radio operator, and he is the first guy killed - gone from the movie.
Is it racist to prefer country music over the blues? Or is it simply a classic case of tribal antipathy toward the unfamiliar, in favor of gravitating to what you know?
One, I had never worked with John Woo before and I wanted to see what that was like, and two, Ben Affleck is a friend, so it would be fun to work with him again.
You make up your mind what part you want to read for and why. It's kept me focused - on what's important, what I want, and what I don't.
If you want someone who is sort of still, has a bit of an edge, is older, you get Morgan Freeman. If you want someone who can carry a gun and still play a father, you get Danny Glover. My category is 'that guy who happens to be black.'
When I was growing up, all these superheroes were white. On some level, you put that out of your mind... but as you get older, you realize it's a very one-sided affair. So I'm very glad to see that these movies are becoming more diversified.
There are lots of stories about my culture that I think bring a whole other perspective to who we are and where we have been and how we got here that I think need to be done.
By the time I graduated, I was the drum major, the highest-ranking officer, and third in my class.
It's important to me to play men who use their brains, not just brawn.
Everyone does what they believe they need to do in order to survive in this business, 'survive' being the operative word.
I think it talks about that there needs to be some proactive attack against drugs infiltrating our culture.
I actually went to the university as a psychology major, and at orientation, they took us around the campus and took us to the theater for a skit. At the end of the skit, I literally could not get up out of my seat.
When we were bringing 'Raisin' onto Broadway, our first stop was at Arena in D.C. Several things struck me about being in D.C.: One was the enormous poverty around the capital at that time - it was 1973, '74 - and I was stunned by people literally living in poverty, with holes in their houses and other things.
I came into the industry at a time when there weren't a lot of choices to what you could do.
The most frightening thing about playing Dick Gregory is I've never done stand-up before, and I had to learn how to be a stand-up comedian, which was a bit of a challenge.
I think it's true for all of us, if you find yourself doing really well at something, then the pressure is on you to try to improve.
The more you know about the world, the more resources you have in terms of things that can inform your character or the circumstances that surround your character.
I guess on one hand I believe it doesn't matter if there is life after death.
When I started off many years ago, I made a determination that there were certain roles I didn't want to play.
I would love to play the villain, but again, it's sort of what happens in this industry.
You want to be challenged, so you feel like you want to get up and wrestle with the character or enjoy the character - especially with a TV show, because you know you could be doing it for a long time, so you want to make sure it's something you really enjoy.
Basically, the actor's job is to pay attention to the script.
Film and television is just a different technique in terms of how to approach the camera but basically the job is the same; but what you learn as a craft in theater, you can then learn to translate that into any mediums.
I was different. I got beat up every day.
If you have the skill, then you can move as you age.
Unfortunately, most actors want to play off their own personal mystique and good looks and whatever, but that will only carry you but so far.
I entered Hofstra University as a psychology major.
Hollywood has successfully produced many films framed by anti-racist or pro-integrationist story lines. I'm going to guess that since 'Gone With The Wind,' Hollywood realized films about racism and segregation pull at the heartstrings of everyone and hopefully serve to purge a sense of guilt.
'Black film,' unless it's lucky enough or creative enough, or timely enough to build a life of its own, hangs subjacent to 'white film' on Hollywood's financial score board... aided and abetted by the supposition that so-called black film has no foreign market.
In the 1980s, there was no category to stick me in. 'He sounds too smart' is what I was hearing. I realized that I had to become a member of the school of what I call 'ugly acting.' Which meant I wanted to do what Dustin Hoffman did very successfully: to play character roles, but lead character roles.
'12 Years A Slave' is a film that is beautifully shot, wonderfully acted, and told in a compelling manner. However, there are some questions, in my opinion, as to its importance. Paramount among those questions is, What does this scenario illustrate that we didn't know or haven't seen before? And why does such a film garner such popularity?
When was the last time you saw a straight black love story without any guns?
I think, very often, we're addicted to procedurals, those good guy/bad guy shows, and the 'problem' with procedurals is they all follow the same formula: The bad guy does his thing, the good guy goes after him, and in most cases, the good guy figures out who did it and catches him.
What's lovely about 'Eureka' is that it's a sci-fi show, but it's not monsters from outer space; it's not craziness from outer space. It's just about this community of people and what they do. These geniuses have sometimes done wonderful things and sometimes created global warming. It has this wonderful left-of-center sense of humor.
If you've been on top of the food chain in the Armed Forces, that's who you are. You're used to dealing with your life in a particular way.
Proof' is going to be, in many ways, a mystery. It's not a procedural in any way. It's not a medical drama. It really is about trying to investigate whether or not there's life after death.
'Breaking Bad' - when I started watching that show, I thought it was terrific. I love the way it was shot. I love the writing. I love the arc of Bryan Cranston's character. I just thought that was just really, really a wonderful, wonderful show.
Even if you have something that you can contribute to society, very often society doesn't view you that way. Because when you are The Other, the first response by the mainstream, if you will, is to ostracize.
It's a very different thing when you're creating the world as opposed to when you're just part of the world. I love the detail of it, the problem-solving of it, and I love working with actors.
Actors are very often people who are placed in a position where they think they have to be grateful for the job and have no control over what they play and how they play it. I was not taught that way. I completely disagree with that. I think that you have more control than you think.
Yes, I would love to play one of the leads in one these movies and have all those challenges and deal with all those complications, but the business being what it is, there is a slot for me in these kinds of films, so I enjoy them, and I enjoy the people that I work with.
I think that's what good writing is all about. You go into a genre to talk about other things. Tolkein created a whole world to talk about the world he lived in.
Perhaps, despite my objections, the success of films like: 'The Help,' 'Django,' 'The Butler,' or '12 Years a Slave,' will further persuade Hollywood to widen its view and edit its erroneous perception of what a commercial black film can look like.
If you live a good life, that seems to be what really matters. If there is something afterwards, terrific. If not, you haven't lost anything.
If there's no craft there, then once the looks go, there goes your career.
I always feel like I'm running an hour and a half late.
Accolades are there to congratulate you but also to make you understand that it's not over. You now have to continue trying to improve the craft and keep going. It's not something to rest on.
I think it talks about the fact that there are black people in the world who have tremendous amount of talents and have no channel through which they can those talents.
Race prejudice has nothing to do with color. It has to do with being the stranger.
I love doing movies but I loved doing theatre just as much.
Acting-wise, it's always exciting to come back for a third season of any TV show that you're working on.
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