I look at what's going on in our society and what's pissing me off at the moment and I just get my basic gut reaction to that and that gut reaction usually becomes the title of the book.
Egon Schiele is my favorite painter. There's just something about art - photography, painting, music, plays - whatever you see, sometimes there's a gut reaction that's more important or more visceral than what your brain is thinking about. You can't explain that reaction. It's like what happens when you fall in love.
I just want real reactions. I want people to laugh from the gut, be sad from the gut - or get angry from the gut.
I gut check my show. I say, I say, "Gut, gut, does that feel true to you?" And Gut says, "Yes it does, Stephen. Let's get a grilled cheese sandwich."
It's good to say, 'Look, I can't always be right, but my gut tells me this' - and then you confirm with your gut.
Choosing an agent is like picking a college. They give you a pitch, you hear what they've got to say, you hear what they're going to do for you. Ultimately it's a good gut reaction.
I quite like Jackson Pollock, and have a real gut reaction to it, so it does whatever it does to me.
My gut reaction [on Betsy DeVos] was, oh, my God. We are now back into the education wars.
When I read a script, I'll have a very visceral gut reaction to what does this mean to me? How does she feel in my skin? Could I play this role?
I'll always work with my collaborator in the room so I have a reaction on a note-by-note basis. I know in my gut when something works for me, and I'll fight for it, but I'm a very easy re-writer.
Anytime I feel squeezed into a box, I just lash out. My gut reaction is to strike. It's a different character onstage: there's a whole dark sexuality that's completely different from me. You know, I don't let anybody know who I really am.
Every moment in life can be interpreted as a risk, depending on our outlook - and level of obsessive- compulsive disorder! I do my best to depend on my gut. If you sit with a decision long enough, your gut/soul will tell you what path to take.
If by reaction you mean critical reaction, I was confident that we were putting out a quality book [ Treachery]. So I was reasonably sure that we'd get positive notices.
The first reaction is, get defensive. Second reaction is, what are we going to do about it?
I think the worst reaction that I could get from someone to my photos is some sort of mediocre, middle-range reaction where they really get nothing from it, and they want to move on to the next thing. [I'd rather they be] horrified, pissed off at me, extremely disgusted at how bad of an artist I am.
I'm afraid my gut level reaction is basically, proceed is cute, but cute doesn't cut it in the emergency room.
In a confrontational situation, you'll get their gut. And I want their gut! And that's why people watch this show!