I've played myself before this ["Brent Spiner"] - and I've played myself since, for that matter - and playing yourself one of the most difficult characters you can play, 'cause God knows most of us don't know who that is.

The kid in the episode [of Tales From The Darkside ] was played by Christian Slater! He was all of about 12 or so, but I've run into Christian many times since then, and he always does his line from Tales From The Darkside whenever he sees me.

As it turns out, sometimes that bites you. In this case, I saw pictures of Earl [Mills], and...I actually met him. He was quite old at the time, but he had this sort of curly red hair, so we did that in the film. I got a perm and had red hair, and... It was a mess.

[Martin Scorsese ] basically works just like any other director. You work the scene, you try to find what's best in it and make it work. That's what it was like.

I didn't audition or anything like that. But I went into John Loganhis office... It was his screening room in his office, actually, and I sat and schmoozed with him for about two minutes, which I think is standard, and, y'know, we got on fine.

Actually, I had a really nice part in that movie [Ladies And Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains]. I mean, I have, like, one second in the final-cut version, where I say "You're fired" to Diane Lane. That's about all you see of me.

Obviously we're doing a comedy [Fresh Hell], and our intent is to entertain, but we're also really aware and trying to stay aware of the subtext of what it's like to reach a certain age and be dismissed, basically, from the fraternity you've always wanted to be a part of, and the desperation involved in trying to claw your way back into it.