There's an undeniable tradition of sexism in this country that ties into the move westward by people of European descent and different ways of looking at Manifest Destiny on the west side of the Mississippi River.
I always told my children when they whined... Only the boring are bored.
I'm always happy to have a job.
It's important for me as an actor to know the entire script before you start shooting, and especially if you're directing, you don't want to be struggling with anything.
The tactic of leading people into... a war that doesn't make any sense by telling them they are under attack, and if they raise any objection they're unpatriotic, is a very old tactic. And it doesn't intimidate me.
I'm kind of pleased with myself that I've got a tailor on Savile Row. I'm 68 years old. I deserve it.
You know, I don't really think you have to play nice guys.
The most important question in American cinema, I've learned, is 'When is lunch?'
I think any stereotyping is too much.
Al Gore has been one of my closest friends since the day we met, on the first day of college, 35 years ago.
I don't fight anybody anytime or anywhere.
You can't instruct an audience to laugh, but what you can do is read well and understand the spirit and subtleties, if there are any, in the dialogue.
I want to photograph what I see and put it in a dramatic context. I'm an actor and a writer, and I want to tell these stories and present these shapes, colors and movements as I see them, as I see them serve a narrative. As I see that narrative serve an audience. That's what I want to do.
In the political world, the only position I have is voter. I'm not a spokesman for anything.
Ethnic stereotypes are boring and stressful and sometimes criminal. It's just not a good way to think. It's non-thinking. It's stupid and destructive.
I don't do anything that is not fun. I just don't do it.
I'm a believer in belief. Faith is something that works - it causes people to do things, it has results. It's an intangible, indefinable, very real thing. And it moves people, sometimes to atrocity. And sometimes to survival.
The entire elementary school in Rotan, Texas, presented a theatrical production of 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.' And the part of Sneezy fell to me.
What appeals to me? There are things, points of view, uses of the language, habits of dress, ways of thought and believing that came to me from my grandparents and came to them from theirs. Things that are of good use in any situation, no matter what the future may hold.
I do not have a sense of humor of any recognizable sort.
As an actor to watch an audience of people howl together in a single mind as a result of work you've done together with friends is a privilege.
I enjoy acting more and more than when I was 17.
You are going to grow up whether you want to or not. It requires no effort.
I'm a hedonist.
My idea in terms of managing a narrative, or in thinking in my creative life, is that you could easily argue that the past, the present and the future all occur simultaneously, and if you can postulate that, then you're not strictly bound to a linear narrative.
If military movies were automatically successful we'd make nothing but military movies. But seriously, patriotism is one thing that all Americans have in common.
I have worked on very good movies that have been buried, and I've worked on some resounding mediocrities that have been paraded through the marketplace like they were masterpieces.
I think that no matter how much you don't like yourself or the drama of your life you can still find some comedy in it.
I play characters, and I try to play them in a manner that's appropriate to the script. Physical movement and vitality of language is part of character.
I don't play just villains. I like to have parts that are not simply villains.
The quality of one's emotional life changes over the years, doesn't it? But the basic instincts and desires, greed and hope, seem to remain constant. In the larger scope of things, there's a sense of fulfillment to living a creative life. So I guess that's what keeps me going.
I've made some bad movies. And I really enjoyed it!
I think any thinking person should be worried about climate change.
As a child of West Texas, I identify with Hispanic culture every bit as much as I do North American culture.
No, I don't think about the myth of the West. It's not the kind of thinking I do. That's more suited to people who live in big towns on the West Coast or East Coast, people who stay under a roof, in a room, all the time.
I fear other actors who are not prepared. And I fear directors who are afraid.
My grandmother grew up in a 19th-century world, and my daughter has grown up in a 21st-century world, and some issues, problems, dilemmas that these women face have not changed.
As it turns out, my grandmother, my mother, my wife, and my daughter are all women, and I like those people. I'm concerned about the issues that they face in their lives. So I'm a feminist, but that's not all I am.
It's no fun to be a struggling young actor. It's a desperate thing, no way to be happy. If you have any alternative, you should take it.
I've worked in the film business for 45 years, and I want to keep on growing as a filmmaker. I want to see my visual life grow and be increasingly effective in this world.
I don't have a favorite genre. I think 'genre' is a literary term. I don't have a favorite kind or type of movie. I like the ones that are good.
My education as a filmmaker has been entirely practical. I started working professionally in the film business in 1970, and I've been at it steadily since, and I pay a lot of attention.
I don't direct movies for a living.
My home town is very small and very remote and we don't have a movie house.
It's no mean calling to bring fun into the afternoons of large numbers of people. That, too, is part of my job, and I'm happy to serve when called on.
I haven't a clue if there is life on other planets but I'd be charmed if we found a unicellular organism on Mars. It would change our whole concept of life on Earth.
All my life I've had the privilege to make my living with my imagination, and the most important thing has been to see my creative life grow. I was educated to do that and have lived accordingly.
I have nothing against interviews. I don't pursue them. When people I work for deem it appropriate, I'm perfectly willing to serve.
Cormac McCarthy's language is perfect. He is in my view the greatest living American prose stylist.
