Creators
"My criterion for accepting a role isn't based on what I would like to do. I try to consider what the audience would like to see me do and I thought kids would adore Star Wars."
Except that I got to beat up James Woods (though he usually played crazies, he was the victim in this one), Cat's Eye was a miserable shoot.
—Alan King on Cat's Eye (1985), Name Dropping
"I always wanted to have the classic career but it drove me crazy. When you hand in great performances in Star 80 and Runaway Train and the Oscar goes to Don Ameche, it kind of bums you out. That's when I called my agent and said, "I'll do anything as long as there’s one good thing about it". It can be a good co-star, a good director, a really great wardrobe. As long as it’s fun, I’ll do it. I started doing two to five movies a year, it’s been a blast, and I’ve seen the world for free."
"I would do a bad western with a good horse any day of the week."
"David Cronenberg is a very smart guy, and the script was smart and beautifully written. I remember reading it and going 'Ahhhh!' — something like that — 'Eureka, eureka!', in some way. And then I went in, I think I talked to Mr. David Cronenberg and we, I passionately offered my, you know, why I liked it so much. I was never particularly careerist anyway; I was, uh, after this, you know, wild-hearted, romantic, art, creative adventure.
— Jeff Goldblum reminiscing about
why he was willing to play a Body Horror Doomed Protagonist in The Fly (1986)
why he was willing to play a Body Horror Doomed Protagonist in The Fly (1986)"I die on page 25, but it's in the arms of Tom Cruise, so I can't complain."
—Kristin Scott Thomas on her role in Mission: Impossible (1996)
"I've always wanted to be either a Disney Prince or a Disney Villain. I got to be both at the same time."
"I don't know whether to be upset or flattered at that question. To be honest, I have always wanted to play a vampire, with the teeth and the long black cape. Let's say that my motives were somewhat immature for doing it."
—Ben Kingsley, when asked why he agreed to work on BloodRayne
"Friday the 13th, to me, is just a memory of discomfort, standing with a knife in the pouring rain. And my start point was in this bed of poison ivy. Then, after I jumped out at the girl from my bed of poison ivy I got to fall down in the sludge mud many times. The only really fun thing was being decapitated."
"My partner was sitting next to me, and he leapt off the couch and started doing this bizarre surfer voice...'Dude! Y'know? You gotta do the audition, bro!" And I was like, 'Who? Wot? Who have you just become?' And he immediately said, 'You have to get this job; let's watch both movies back-to-back.'"
"Nobody’s done that before or since. I think that’s going to go on my gravestone, actually. I beat up a Dalek with a baseball bat! My absolute claim to fame, and I was very proud of that moment!"
"When it comes down to it, I'd rather have an action figure than a Golden Globe."
"I hadn't been beaten up in a movie before and I was very excited by the idea of being clubbed to death."
—Stephen Fry, on his role in V for Vendetta
"I wanted to play Dracula because I wanted to say, "I've crossed oceans of time to find you". It was worth playing the role just to say that line."
"Michelle Yeoh is the reason that for the rest of my life, you will say 'Oscar nominated actress Jamie Lee Curtis'. My agent called me and said, 'There's this movie, it stars Michelle Yeoh and you'll play her nemesis.' And I said, 'I'll do it.' He said, 'Wait, you need to read this, it's out there.' I said, 'I'll do it.'"
—Jamie Lee Curtis, on her role in Everything Everywhere All at Once
"I was never going to let the Oscars be a measure of my success or failure as an actor. My yardstick of success is my happiness: Am I satisfied with what I’m doing? I’m not doing statue-chasing movies. You know: 'If you do this movie, you’ll win an Oscar.' No, thanks. I’d rather be Nick Fury. Or having fun being Mace Windu with a lightsaber in my hand."
— Samuel L. Jackson in an interview with the LA Times
Reviewers
Walken utters the line "You amuse me, Mister Bond" as if he’s been waiting his entire life to say it.
I'd like to say this is where a big chunk of the $20 million budget went, but I'm pretty sure Carradine did the movie for free, just so he could show off his ancient nakedness.
