Steve Buscemi Quotes

The director I had most involvement with was Alex Rockwell. He gave me a lot of responsibility as an actor.

Nothing's really changed for me over the years. I like telling stories about people with problems. I can't really put it much simpler than that. Relationships are interesting to me. Not just between men and women but fathers and sons, brothers and sisters and friends.

It doesn't matter what part I play, I try and commit myself 100 percent.

I did stand-up. I loved George Carlin and Steve Martin.

I don't tend to think of the characters i play as losers. I like the struggles that people have, people who are feeling like they don't fit into society, because I still sort of feel that way.

Usually, I only get to work a few weeks on a movie, or I often don't make it to the end of the movie because I'm disposed of.

I didn't really like the aloneness of doing stand-up.

I think distribution has become a lot harder. With the whole explosion of digital video, there's just a lot more people making films. Distributors have a lot more choice. I do think there's an audience out there for small films. It's obvious to me what the studios do: they've co-opted independent film. They all have their independent arm. They can afford to crush the competition.

I had a magic kit. I never really followed through on it, but I had my phase of wanting to do it, sure.

Casting is everything. Getting the person that you imagined is this character and then seeing what they bring to it.That's why you hire them, so why tell somebody first what it is you want? I'm more curious to see what they bring to it and then be inspired by it and say: "OK, what if you tried this?" or "What would happen if ... ?"

All the roles I play, I don't see any of my roles in films that they're typically leading men.

I talked with Quentin about where the character came from, and he told me Kansas City. I don't know how somebody talks from Kansas City, so I made him from New York.

Do you think god stays in heaven because he too lives in fear of what he's created here on earth?

Anything you write, even if you have to start over, is valuable. I let the story write itself through the characters.

Casting is everything. Getting the person that you imagined is this character and then seeing what they bring to it.

When I was in pre-production for Trees Lounge, I was hearing the cinematographer talking with the production designer about colours and this and that and feeling like I was losing control.

I like telling stories about people with problems. I can't really put it much simpler than that.

I didn't think I'd ever be able to do movies. That was for serious actors.

What if I told you insane was working fifty hours a week in some office for fifty years at the end of which they tell you to p*ss off; ending up in some retirement village hoping to die before suffering the indignity of trying to make it to the toilet on time? Wouldn't you consider that to be insane?

I just like playing interesting, complex, complicated characters. I like films that also have an element of humor.

Just because people want to eat the burger doesn't mean they want to meet the cow.

Bob Altman had this relaxed but serious attitude. Everybody loved him. I wanted him to adopt me.

I feel my life has more meaning because I am responsible for another life, although I don't have control over what Lucian - my son - is going to do. He's definitely going to carve his own way.

I guess I don't think about age too much. I've always felt older than I really am anyway. I'm not dreading getting older. I don't miss the anxiety of being younger and not knowing what you want or where you’re going.

They're not supposed to show prison films in prison. Especially ones that are about escaping.

I always find that it's when a script is not detailed, then I have to do more work as an actor.

Character actors just pile up the credits because you work on a movie for like a few days. It's not like I'm the lead in everything I do - far from it. I'm not spending three or four months on a picture; I'm spending three or four weeks. Sometimes three or four days.

I think all comics borrow from each other. Only a few have an original voice, and I wasn't one of them. In the end, I couldn't figure out who to steal from, so I stopped doing it.

I was going to buy a van and move to LA so I could secretly pursue acting without any of my friends knowing.

Every day's an adventure when I step out of my door. That's why I usually wear a hat and keep my head low.

Directing television is really hard - it's so fast. You shoot an hour show in seven days.

It wasn't until my senior year in high school that I started acting.

I suppose things are better now, but ... I don't know. People still hate each other, they just know how to hide it better.

I never had any master plan about directing, and I don't really write.

Trees Lounge is based on my own life. Both my parents like the movie. My father, of course, thinks it's a masterpiece.

I don't blame any director for wanting to do something more commercial. That's all part of the business. I certainly have done it, as an actor.

When I was a fireman I was in a lot of burning buildings. It was a great job, the only job I ever had that compares with the thrill of acting.

I never did improv professionally, but that was certainly in my training as an actor. I like it. Actually, when I did theater, I used to have a partner, and that was the way we used to write a lot of our sketches, through improvisation. So it's something I feel comfortable with.

My greatest hope was to get discovered as a comedian and get on a sitcom.

I could never have imagined the films I've done and the people I've worked with when I was starting out; I certainly did not have a career path.

The trend now is to shoot in Canada because it's cheaper, and they don't care what the location is.

We both [with Jo Andres] think that it is really important to our culture that we support all kinds of music, all kinds of theatre and all kinds of art because you never know what moves people. We've always believed that there should be a strong voice outside the commercial world. Certainly, the commercial world has a huge place in our culture and we also support that - but, we also want to support the stuff that lives outside of that.

I usually get freaked out if I'm in a situation where a lot of people recognise me at once.

I don't think I'm that much different from any other working actor that's trying to make a living.

I've never had a grand plan. I've only just tried to keep open to many different possibilities, have fun and work with people who are passionate about what they do.

I have a dresser, who literally is a guy who makes sure the tie is right. It's a little bit of a process. I could probably do it by myself, but it would take me three times as long.

Communication is the key, and it's one thing I had to learn-to talk to the actors. I was so involved with the visual and technical aspects that I would forget about the actors.

Oftentimes you'll see stuff that makes it into the mainstream that has been influenced by things that are clearly not from the mainstream.