Top 51 Quotes & Sayings by William Fichtner

Oh, I'm a Mopar guy. There's no doubt about it.

It's not like I wake up and think, 'Oh God, I have to go to the gym.' It's just pretty much a given. I do cardio, light weights, and a good stretch, and I always try to get to the pool for at least a 15-minute swim.

I never say, 'I only want to do things like this,' I am not that sort of actor. I don't have that grand plan - some do, but I don't - I am really a character guy.

It's not that there aren't people who care creatively in the world of television, but there's always a bit more time in making a movie. I always feel films are more of a creative journey.

Saying, 'I'm going to hang up my hat today, and I'm retiring,' it's not a concept for me, and it never has been. I figure, when I'm 81, I'll play 81-year-old parts, hopefully.

When I was younger, I never wanted to rehearse because I thought that someone would figure out I don't know what I'm doing. Now I like to really spend the time and figure it out, and rehearsal is to try something that doesn't work.

I'm an automotive fan. I love motor sports, and I love to watch motor sports. I love it all.

Could you ever call me a 'leading man?' Not really. It's not that I don't want leading man roles, but there's only so many, and they want Tom Hanks, not me.

I've never been the actor who did one job, and everyone went, 'Wow!'

What I truly get excited about is not the genre of a movie or the size of a part - it's character. I like to find characters.

When I get home, I clean out the garage and play ball with my son. That's it.

There's always a sense of playfulness in terms of what I do for a living.

I'm not funny ha-ha, but I look for real humour in just about everything I've ever played.

If anybody ever points out to me I'm chewing scenery, I certainly like to stop doing that.

Producers shoot movies where the tax incentives are.

I'm a huge fan of actors, and I love when people find moments and a scene works. There's nothing more that I love than to go over to another actor and say, 'Yeah! You just rocked that one, baby!'

Kim Coates is my best friend. I met Coatsy in 2001 in Morocco while working on 'Black Hawk Down.'

If I want to go to sleep, click on a procedural, put me right out.

The process of making an independent film is like building a mini Eiffel Tower with popsicle sticks - it doesn't happen overnight, and it's not easy.

I think that somewhere deep inside of me, I feel, if it's not something I believe in, then I probably won't be very good at it. And I have a fear of that. Not that I'm good in everything, but I try.

I do play nice guys. I really do.

If you can't get tax breaks, then there's no reason to film in a city or state.

I have real strong feelings about our troops and support them.

I have no problem having any actor from anywhere play a role. I'm excited for any actor that gets a job, I truly am. Even if it's a role that I'm up for and I don't get it, I never begrudge any actor having it work out for them.

I want to work every day. I don't work every day. When I finish something, people ask me, 'You gonna chill for a little while?' I'm like, 'No. I chill on Sunday afternoon.' I need to be engaged.

I've always loved hot rods and going to drag races.

I had a '69 Road Runner when I was a kid. I had it for 13 days, came home one day, and my parents were in the driveway. They said, 'Meet the new owner,' because they'd gotten phone calls about me burning rubber for the last 12 days. They thought I'd wrap it around a tree, and it was too much car for a 16 year old.

I don't like to watch dailies or video playback unless I have to.

The script for 'Drive Angry' is a great read with great characters and great action.

Here's the bottom line: I can't play someone if I can't figure out what he cares about. Everybody cares about something, even a rough character. It defines where we step in life. As soon as you find out what somebody cares about, then it all gets real.

When you work on a Jerry Bruckheimer film, you can be sure of two things: no production value will be spared, and the catering will be as fine as any really really good restaurant. Jerry is an amazing producer, with a commitment to his films second to none.

It's not like it's not fun to work on big studio pictures. It is. But I can't say that's more fun than working on some little indie for scale. Look at The Amateurs, that's probably the best time I ever had working on a film. With that group of guys, it ended up being an experience I'll never forget. I'll always have the fondest memory of that shoot.

Whether it's one scene or 15 scenes in a film, whether it's the lead or a cameo part, if I don't find it interesting, I tend not to do it. You never really know what it is. It could be a one-scene part. I remember I read the one scene in Crash and was asked to do it. I was like, "Absolutely!" There's no formula for how something has to be. I always try to keep it that way.

The Underneath was my first film. Steven Soderbergh. I remember that I thought, "Wow, this is such a highlight. Am I ever going to get back to this?" Loved working with Steven and in Austin, Texas, one of the rockin'-est towns in America. I'll always remember it, because I was really grateful that someone finally hired me for a movie.

I like to find characters. Here's the bottom line: I can't play someone if I can't figure out what he cares about. Everybody cares about something, even a rough character. It defines where we step in life. As soon as you find out what somebody cares about, then it all gets real.

For me, I wish I loved every script that I read. Sometimes I'm more picky and choosy than I really should be because you would get more jobs as an actor! But you don't know what it is. Sometimes you read something and it could be a big part or a small part. It could be one scene and I'll read it and say: "Wow, I really like that and I really want to do that.".

I like characters where there's something going on and something to make him real. If you find out what somebody cares about, all of a sudden, the whole world opens up.

The greatest joy in getting ready for the film is that there aren't many reference points for the journey and you've got to define it for yourself.

I like to really spend the time and figure it out and rehearsal is to try something that doesn't work. It's hard to do that, because you always want to go with your impulse thought and you wonder if that's the one, did that work, you know?

Go is one of my favorite things that I ever did. Not that I critique myself, but sometimes I'll be passing by the television, and I'll say, "Meh, maybe I would have done that a little different." I can't help [but] do that. But Go was one of those things - I really loved working with Doug Liman. Detective Burke in Go is one of those roles that's about everything I like to do. I love parts like that. And Go seems to be the thing that rolled it all into one.

I did a small, small thing in Quiz Show, where I was really just a glorified extra. But, you know, New York actor, few days on a film set: Great! I was probably making subway fare on the play that I was doing at the time. I always think of The Underneath as the first film that I ever did.

As much as I moved to New York and tried to work in theater as much as I could - I developed a relationship with Circle Rep - make no mistake about it, I really, really wanted to be in a film. It seemed like almost everyone I knew at least did something in a movie, except me.

Ridley Scott - not that he shared it a lot, but you can just see that everything he did, Ridley always seemed to be just so clear. I love that about him.

I really dig the writers, and I think they challenged me for the most part throughout the journey on the show. If you don't challenge me in a series sort of situation, boy, I couldn't be on it long.

When I was younger, I never wanted to rehearse because I thought that someone would figure out I don't know what I'm doing.

I just loved being around everybody. We just found a rhythm with each other that you want to get on everything you ever do in your life.

Passion Of Mind movie is one of my rare romantic things. I'm ready for another. Shooting that, I remember France. We were in the south of France, and Paris. That's the first thing that comes to mind for that. I just remember that that was a beautiful place to be when we shot it.

I think that there's no doubt that to work in film is a bit more of a creative journey. It's not that I don't put the same time or heart into something that's on television.

Sometimes the scene is a sad scene but you have to play it with a laugh to find out that that doesn't work or that there's really a part of that in it, and that's what rehearsal is for, to take that time.

We worked on The Perfect Storm, and I'll never forget, Wolfgang Petersen would talk about a moment. Like a non-speaking moment, where we'd all be sitting around eating dinner, and it would probably last maybe four seconds on screen. But he would sit there and talk about it for about 10 minutes. He knew what piece of the puzzle that scene would be, and if it were six seconds, it would be too long. If it were three seconds, it wouldn't be enough. I'm always turned on with people's enthusiasm like that.

"Prison Break" has been a really great experience because of the writers. I think that in television, you can have great directors, really good actors, but if it's not on the page... I think a series lives and dies in writing.