Normally what I do is I'll record something that I really like which will be part of a song or an idea. I kind of just record things and then I'm done with them. It takes discipline to actually carve out a song.
Michael CeraIt's great when you can just focus your whole attention on the music and hear all of the decisions and choices that were made.
Michael CeraI spend most of my time catching up on classic comedy - things you absolutely have to see.
Michael CeraI'm not stereotypically Canadian. I don't really follow hockey. I don't feel like anything other than myself, basically.
Michael CeraMy parents are both really, really funny, and my little sister is a really good painter, and my other sister is a really good writer.
Michael CeraI don't think anyone cares whether you're working or not. I have the luxury now of not having to support anyone and not really needing a whole lot of money.
Michael CeraEvery choice you make as an actor ends up being really influential on your life, because you're spending a lot of time working on this project, and you want to make sure you're making good choices and you're not making them for the wrong reasons. I just want to be careful and not jump into anything.
Michael CeraIf you're working with a director you trust, you can turn that part of you off that wants to direct other actors in a certain way.
Michael CeraBaseball players tend to have something like 20 good years in them and then around their mid-thirties they aren't in the same shape as the young guys in the league and kind of aren't worth as much. Then they retire before 40. And they are left floating adrift in the middle of the ocean.
Michael CeraThe thing is, I really can't relate to anyone my own age. Not in a superior way - an inferior way, if anything. Socially, I have no idea what my friends are talking about. I don't listen to any new music. I feel very secluded.
Michael CeraI find being on set very invigorating. I never have a problem with that component of it, no matter the situation.
Michael CeraMy father works for Xerox and fixes those gigantic copy machines that are about 10 feet wide.
Michael CeraI just want to be really careful with decisions I make. When you make a decision about your career, it changes your life in a really big way.
Michael CeraHey, lady, those are some sexy-ass extensions. I guess you wont mind if I extend to you a personal invitation to party with me one-on-one in a scary motel room.
Michael CeraWhen you're 12, a 12-year-old girl is so out of your league, because they have no interest in you. You're like 10 years younger. You're 2 to them.
Michael CeraThings move so quickly on set. When you're about to do another take and you have a minute to figure out what you're doing, you just kind of determine how you're going to do it on the spot.
Michael CeraI may not have gone to high school every day, but I spent whole a lot of my adolescence feeling vulnerable and confused and alone... just like everybody else.
Michael CeraThe trick [in comedy] is always to figure out how real you're playing it and how real it's supposed to feel. That's a hard thing to figure out.
Michael CeraWhen I was 16, I was working on 'Arrested Development.' My memories of being 16 were just trying to keep up with school while doing the show and trying to be around all those people on the show, as much as I could.
Michael CeraIt's so easy to get caught up in your own self-doubt when you're writing. It can be so easy to tell yourself, "Who am I kidding?"
Michael CeraSometimes when a movie is really alive you can see that they were just making decisions on the spot. They weren't bound to anything, they were working with ideas that the actors and situations presented.
Michael CeraI worry more about something that isn't working rather than something that feels really good. You forget about the good stuff.
Michael CeraIt seems like movies normally take a long time to get made. When you focus on it, and you're waiting for something, it seems to take longer.
Michael CeraYou try to pick good stories, and that's pretty much all the control you have as an actor.
Michael CeraArrested Development never felt safe. Even the first season, we did thirteen episodes, and we thought we'd never do a back nine. So I never thought in a million years we'd get to make three seasons. I was happy we got that far. I thought it was really good, and I'm really proud of it. I don't think we made a bad episode.
Michael CeraI turned down the lead role in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, because that idiot Oliver Stone didn't think the character should play the alto sax.
Michael CeraI kind of end up getting caught up in whatever the rhythm of the movie is and how open the director is to changing things in the moment or finding it in rehearsal.
Michael CeraIf someone wants to be a part of your life, theyโll be there. So donโt bother saving a spot for someone who wonโt make an effort to stay.
Michael CeraI heard Bob Weinstein actually likened actors to baseball players. You work for a while then all of a sudden you go through a dry spell.
Michael CeraWhen you're 18, you escape if you want to. Sixteen, you're still really depending on the people around you. You can't drive, and you can't support yourself. You can't legally be responsible for yourself.
Michael Cera