There's not enough black films out there. There's not enough Latin films, or films that have an Asian, Indian or Middle Eastern lead. The list goes on and on.
I've done some wonderful performance on TV even better than films. But once people watch it, they just forget it. The impact is not strong. So, films and TV are different.
I took a break from TV for about three-four years. During that time, I had to let go of some of the best shows that were offered to me, as I wanted to focus on films. It was believed that if you are seen too much on TV, you won't get films.
This is certainly not to excuse the violence that exists on TV and films and on the Internet. But the truth is that wherever you go in Europe, there are American films and TV shows that are just as popular as at home. And you don't have that sense of violence in any other place other than America.
Sometimes the roles you're being offered, leads in films aren't good enough. Actually it's you're better going and doing a radio play or a decent TV.
Good female parts are hard to come by, so I go all over the place to find them: cable TV, network movies of the week, foreign films, independent American films, studio films, the stage.
I think when I got drawn to film, I didn't know it was a business. I mean, like most filmmakers, I probably saw more films than a lot of people when I was a kid. But I watched them on TV as well. I was no purist about it. I spent lots of time in movie theaters, but I also watched a lot of films on TV.
I hope I'm always lucky enough to be able to work in theater, TV, and big films and small films. I think there's advantages and disadvantages to all of them. The fact that this was a small film without much money and without much time made it rich in energy and momentum and drive when we were actually making it 'cause that's all you've got. You've just got the story and the people.
There's always something at least a little smug about self-reference - magazine articles about idealistic journalists, TV shows about TV actors, ironic films within ironic-er films: all this meta-media populated by thinly disguised characters making oblique inside jokes.
Back in the '80s, a lot of the images I used were from TV or from films on TV.
To call doing films upgrade from TV wouldn't be right because TV is huge too.
If you compare TV and films, the success ratio of television is higher than films.
I don't want to do roles in films which I have already done on TV. What is the point of jumping to films and doing the same thing?
Initially when I was working on TV, people would ask why I'm not trying for films. My reply was that I was enjoying TV and had no reason to shift.
Looking back on the long haul in my career, little films, big films, TV, the Western thing has been really good to me.
When I grew up my role model was Will Smith. I wanted to have my own TV show, do films where I can do comedy and big films such as 'I Am Legend'.