Every time I've ever gotten close to being successful, I've found some way to screw it up.
This hook nose and crab meister attitude has gotten me every job I've ever had. And more divorces than I care to remember.
I know certainly, when one job draws to a close, that I feel I'm simply never going to work again. No one will ever want me for anything ever again. I think that's a vulnerable moment in every actor's life, and it happens every time you finish a film.
I've gotten jobs that I think I've done the worst audition I ever did, and I got the job. I've done the best audition I've ever done in my entire life, and I haven't gotten the job.
On every job you learn, on every job you should be looking to learn and every decision you make on the jobs you take, they should always try in some way, even if not in a huge way, they should in some way stretch you.
Interaction with fans is super important to me. I have the best fans ever. They're always the most creatively charged people. I've saved every single piece of fan mail that I've ever gotten. We have an archive of it and stuff. I think if I can inspire that, then it's like my job is done.
Before I was an actor, I was never able to hold a job for more than 3 months for some reason. It just wouldn't hold my interest, so there was some way that I wound up quitting or getting fired from it. But being an actor is perfect, because movies usually take about three months to shoot. Then it's over and they say, 'Hey, great job!'
Every job I've ever gotten has been an accident. All the jobs I actually go after, I don't get.
I really enjoy work to a purpose. Maybe that makes me kind of strange. In some ways - and this is going to sound awful - it could be that writing is the worst job that I've ever had. Because it's so much more important to me and there's so much more opportunity for failure and I have so many people depending on me. In some ways it's the most satisfying, the most gratifying, and the most rewarding job I've ever had. But I actually would say it's probably the worst job I've ever had too.
I feel like being an actor it is a great way to do your job and be a parent, because you have a lot of freedom. You have a job and then the job ends and than maybe you don't have another job for a while or maybe you chose not have another job for a while. For an actor, it's like maybe you don't see your kid for two weeks while you are filming but then you might have three months off where you are at home every day and picking him up from school. I find it's a great thing.
Not every actor gives their life to do this job. Some just do it as a job. Well, it's my life.
I don't think an actor's job is to be recognized. I think an actor's job is to facilitate the writing in a way that changes the way people think. No other business does that.
My personality has gotten me some really good job interviews in New York.
You can say something that can really help and actor and you can say something that can really get in the way of an actor's performance, kind of cut them off from their instincts and really get into their heads. And every actor's different. Every actor requires something different. Being an actor, for me, was the greatest training to be a writer and director.
Truthfully, most directors don't direct actors. Every actor is different, so when you're asked, "How do you approach an actor?," it depends on the actor. With some, you do nothing. With some, you're very specific.
Every actor has a different temperament. Part of my job is to know what those boundaries are. The actor has to know you'll be there at the other end, that you're trying to represent them in the best light, who they are as they're harnessing these roles. The methods vary from actor to actor.