John Hawkes Quotes

I do all kinds of roles - nerd, psycho, nerd, psycho, nerd, psycho - and occasionally someone kind of normal. It's weird, when I lived in Austin I was always cast as pretty normal people. But when I moved to Los Angeles I was immediately branded a psycho

As an actor, I think a mistake that any storyteller can make is to play the ending.

There's a lot of skeletons in my closet!

People have said unkind things and you kind of have to, if you happen to read it, you have to just, you know, move on.

When we lived in Juneau, Alaska, it was a town of about 7,000 people, and totally isolated; the only way to get to it was by ship.

I went to a performance of 'The Crucible' at the Guthrie when I was a sophomore in high school, and I knew right away that that's what I wanted to do

You never really forget who you are. If you did, you'd need to seek some professional help

Really, I didn't like Alaska. It rained, almost every day, at least 300 days out of the year.

The only thing that exists is torment, lyricism, and the magnificence of language.

I don't have actor training, myself.

I began to write fiction on the assumption that the true enemies of the novel were plot, character, setting and theme, and having once abandoned these familiar ways of thinking about fiction, totality of vision or structure was really all that remained.

The writer should always serve as his own angleworm —and the sharper the barb with which he fishes himself out of blackness, the better.

If you're telling a story it's always best not to play the ending.

I want people to believe me when I play a part and they are less apt to if they know a lot about me and have associations about me.

I think we're all mysteries to ourselves.

I generally play strong people and scary people.

Certainly I've had the experience of thinking a person was one thing, and finding out they were another.

I do not feel an exile from America in any sense.

It's tough being an actor making music, because even I have a knee-jerk reaction to that.

I met Robert Rodriguez working on a movie called 'Roadracers.'

A lot of times, you just don't get the jobs you want to get.

I don't mean to be highfalutin about it, but I try to limit my visibility.

I'm just looking for the best story being told by the best people and the best part that I can find. If those things add up, I want to be a part of it whether it's a studio film or, more likely in that instance, an independent film.

Part of the way that I work is to observe.

For me and for I'm sure any actor, each role is a different challenge to prepare for in a different way.

I had to go to Sunday school once or twice in my life, and that's where I commented someplace on hearing.

My fear now is of cliche, of complacency, of not being able to feel authenticity in myself and those around me.

It seems like every year Hollywood makes an attempt to retell the Manson story, and I just couldn't be less interested in it. It's not really our crowning achievement as a civilisation. I'm not saying it shouldn't be done, but it just bores me.

'The New York Times' thing... I think any actor would be thrilled to be profiled in that paper.

I have to be careful of what TV shows I choose, particularly ones that have commercials in them, because it's going to be a different kind of television show.

It's probably odd for someone to read an interview where the interviewee is worried about exposure while they're talking in an interview.

It's hard to get concert tickets.

Even the small amount of infamy I have makes me uncomfortable - on a personal level and on a professional level.

I've never had any delusions about being a leading man, and it's not sour grapes to say that in the best films that I've always enjoyed, the cliched leading man type isn't a part of the picture.

Starting in the mid-'80s, I played in a band called Meat Joy, and we made our own record, toured.

To be anywhere near an enormous ocean liner when you are just like a fish in the water is frightening.

Motive is never easy. Sometimes it occurs to one only later.

I don't have any training as an actor, but I guess I'm an intense pretender. When you read something over and over, it gets into you a little bit. You can't help but begin to feel it, even if you're a healthy person as I think I am

It's nice to sometimes get things out of life, rather than stealing from other artists. I'm trying to steal from the real people.

For the last 20 years of my life, I've had the mantra to do amazing parts with amazing people in amazing projects, so I'm attracted to good story, writing and character and good people. That's what I'm always searching for and I don't think that's ever going to change.

I lived in Texas for 10 years. There were a lot of people chewing, including my dad.

I don't think there are in life, pure darkness or pure light. Everyone's got a little of everything.

It's hard to tell whether the ship or airplane - they're all the same, I'm convinced - is male or female; it may shift back and forth.