On indies it's hard to do, but in rehearsals, you make mistakes in rehearsal. It's really hard rehearsing a play or what rehearsal you get on any movie. That's where you get to make your mistakes, and you make big ones. So when you shoot [the movie] or you finally get the play in shape and do it, the mistakes are out of the way. If you're not afraid to make mistakes, then there is no writer's block or actor's block.

Stars don't want to have flaws. Stars like to be likable.

I never said, 'I'm going to be a big star.' I said, 'I'm going to be a good actor.' And that took the pressure off.

I always wanted to do films. I'd gone to New York early in 1976 and did a lot of theater, but I really wanted to chase the paths of people like Pacino and Lemmon and those guys. Alan Arkin. Film was where I wanted to go.

You know, its really strange now with the Internet, with everyone having an unsolicited, anonymous opinion.

I never starved. And you know, whatever talent I have, I've relied on that, versus image or star. I have just said, 'Hire me if you want somebody good.' I tried to be as good as I could be every time out, and that's kind of bridged the decades.

You can't rewrite nothing, but you can rewrite 90 pages of sh*t. Now you've got your sh*t on the page, you can go work.