Top 119 Quotes & Sayings by Michael Pena - Page 2

There's something about coming up with something out of nothing. I work with somebody else's creation already, and I just try to make it better.

I'm living in Hollywood, and I'm making movies, but it goes beyond me. If my family is not doing very well, or even OK, you want them to be better.

I loved WWF as a kid.

Regardless of whatever job you do, you want to see the importance of it or how it can be important. I think by inspiring the people that I come from - if I inspire anyone - would be worth it.

I usually joke around, especially on set.

I don't know why - I have a ton of books: five full cabinets of them.

Some horror movies are just for shock value, so it doesn't really feel scary.

My brother and my father both got laid off around the same that I was starting to do this movie 'Chavez.' And at the same time, it was when all the bailouts were happening.

It was an event whenever 'CHiPs' would come on in my house. There wasn't a lot of Latin people being hired to star in TV shows or movies back in the day. Not only was it a fun show, there was a Latino starring in it - so we thought it was extra cool.

I just wanted to be a part of something that's a horror movie that scares you.

I don't know if I'm necessarily a role model, but hopefully I can inspire any artist - Latin or otherwise - to do this thing for a living.

When you finish a drama, you go, 'I can't wait to do a comedy.' When you finish a comedy, you go, 'I want to do a dramedy, dark humor.'

'End of Watch' was 98-percent written, and I work really hard to make it look like it's the first time I'm saying it.

The reason I love Lollapalooza is because it's a great music festival.

I don't know about you, but for me, if I got to present any kind of award, I'm shaking in my pants.

I want to become more successful.

I used to live off of nothing.

I was in really good shape after I finished this movie, 'End of Watch.'

Sometimes it's good to be naive.

I'm clearly not a writer, but I'm always a fan of them.

I didn't realise I lived in the ghetto until we moved out.

My understanding, when I think of immigration, is like... you know, this country was built on immigrants: the German, the Polish, the Italian, the Jewish, the Russians, the Eastern Europeans. So, all these people came in, and I don't know who decided like, 'No, that's it! There's a cap on it! No more people.'

'War on Everyone,' I think... the script was hilarious to me, but it's very dark, dark humor. It's super dark.

I'm super grateful, and whenever somebody offers me something, and I'm doing it, I always try to give 110%.

'Tower Heist?' That is a movie that it's hard not to name-drop, but, it's a crew of five, and it's Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, me, Matthew Broderick, and Casey Affleck. And we're like, on a heist.

I'd love to work with Woody Allen.

I think nerves stop you from doing things. Make you stop and maybe make you withdraw. Then there's excitement where you can't wait to do it.

I have really good managers and agents who are very selective in what they send me.

You know, one of my favorite movies that inspired me and got me started was 'Dead Poet's Society.'

Every script always goes through rewrites so that everyone loves it.

The only time that I really go on Twitter is to promote, because what sucks is there's some weird trolling going around. Even if you are well-intentioned, there's some mean people behind a keyboard.

I'm envious of writers.

I went to a prep school in Chicago, and my dad and mom worked really hard - even though we lived in the ghetto - to get me to there. A lot of it had to do with 'Stand and Deliver' and 'Dead Poet's Society.' It does help you. It inspires you. It definitely did for me.

Some of my favorite actors are Gene Wilder and Eddie Murphy back in the day - that's mainly what me and my brothers watched when we were kids.

Drama is basically what I do, so it's a compliment that people think it's hard for me to get back to drama.

Seth Rogen told me to read 'Preacher,' and 'Preacher' was amazing.

I remember my seventh-grade chemistry teacher told me I'd never amount to anything. I thought, 'Hmm. OK.' That gave me motivation to prove her wrong.

I was on 'The Shield' for a year before 'Crash' came out, and it was like doing an independent film every week.

When I first set out to do it, I wanted to be a working actor, and now it seems like it's superseded even my dreams.

I saw Gosling just kill it in 'Blue Valentine.' I thought he was just amazing at that, and I wouldn't mind maybe doing something like that.

One of my first real parts was 'Crash' - that won the Oscar.

I didn't know too much about 'Ant-Man.'

Some of the best bad guys in movies are funny and charming.

I came to L.A. when I was 19, and my two roommates were blue-eyed, blond dudes. I helped coach them, and they both landed pilots.

I've tested for I-don't-know-how-many pilots, and I didn't get any of them. I would always try to go off the top and make it as spontaneous as possible, but acting in sitcoms is such a skill set, and I didn't have it. I wish I did back when I was younger.

I want to find my own rhythm and style. That's probably the harder way to approach it, but I think it will pay off in the long run.

What's funny isn't really me. What I do is point out what I find funny in others.

I used to love those movies, back in the day, like 'A Nightmare on Elm Street,' 'Friday the 13th,' 'Rosemary's Baby' and 'The Shining.' I really liked those kind of movies, and I wanted to be a part of one of those kinds of movies.

All the guys at Marvel are really passionate, and they love entertaining folks, and they really think about the story, and there's a lot of thought that goes into that.

I'll read, like, ten scripts, and then sometimes if I'm lucky, there will be two or three scripts that I like, and sometimes they'll all be dramas, or they'll all be comedies, or there will be two dramas and a comedy, and then I'll go for whatever. If I have to audition, I'll audition. If it's an offer, great.

There is always pressure in any movie set. If you think about it, there is something that you memorize and it is almost like public speaking every day, all day. There is a crew of people, there are monitors and if you mess up, you have to do it until you get it right and then sometimes, you would go blank.

What happened happened. What's gonna happen, is gonna happen.

You can have a kid and just be off at work all the time, and it's all mom. But, I spent a lot of time with him, so now, every time I see him, he's like, "Dada!"

I love documentaries and I watch documentaries to no end.

I think that when you’re doing a comedy and it makes you laugh, there’s a certain… like you can reject it, and it’s okay. It’s not promoting it or making it seem cool. I think that’s when you get into hot water.

I took a year and a half off, when my kid was born, because I didn't want to be one of those dads where the kid doesn't know who his dad is.

In the beginning, I was always playing some kind of gangbanger and the token Mexican dude who didn't have a lot of lines but was in the entire movie. At the same time, everyone gets typecast, and I decided that if I was going to play a stereotypical role, I was going to play it like a three-dimensional character.

I lived in Chicago, in a shady part of town, and the cops would always stop me since I'm Mexican and I look like the other dudes. Style played a part in it. You're not really going to dress in a suit in a tie.

Eddie Murphy is just so off-the-cuff and can make anything funny. You hope that someday you'll acquire that skill, but maybe you're born with that.