William Fichtner Quotes

The greatest joy in getting ready for the film is that there aren't many reference points for the journey and you've got to define it for yourself.

I like to find characters. Here's the bottom line: I can't play someone if I can't figure out what he cares about. Everybody cares about something, even a rough character. It defines where we step in life. As soon as you find out what somebody cares about, then it all gets real.

I just loved being around everybody. We just found a rhythm with each other that you want to get on everything you ever do in your life.

It's not like it's not fun to work on big studio pictures. It is. But I can't say that's more fun than working on some little indie for scale. Look at The Amateurs, that's probably the best time I ever had working on a film. With that group of guys, it ended up being an experience I'll never forget. I'll always have the fondest memory of that shoot.

We worked on The Perfect Storm, and I'll never forget, Wolfgang Petersen would talk about a moment. Like a non-speaking moment, where we'd all be sitting around eating dinner, and it would probably last maybe four seconds on screen. But he would sit there and talk about it for about 10 minutes. He knew what piece of the puzzle that scene would be, and if it were six seconds, it would be too long. If it were three seconds, it wouldn't be enough. I'm always turned on with people's enthusiasm like that.

I like characters where there's something going on and something to make him real. If you find out what somebody cares about, all of a sudden, the whole world opens up.

The Underneath was my first film. Steven Soderbergh. I remember that I thought, "Wow, this is such a highlight. Am I ever going to get back to this?" Loved working with Steven and in Austin, Texas, one of the rockin'-est towns in America. I'll always remember it, because I was really grateful that someone finally hired me for a movie.

"Prison Break" has been a really great experience because of the writers. I think that in television, you can have great directors, really good actors, but if it's not on the page... I think a series lives and dies in writing.

I like to really spend the time and figure it out and rehearsal is to try something that doesn't work. It's hard to do that, because you always want to go with your impulse thought and you wonder if that's the one, did that work, you know?

Passion Of Mind movie is one of my rare romantic things. I'm ready for another. Shooting that, I remember France. We were in the south of France, and Paris. That's the first thing that comes to mind for that. I just remember that that was a beautiful place to be when we shot it.

I really dig the writers, and I think they challenged me for the most part throughout the journey on the show. If you don't challenge me in a series sort of situation, boy, I couldn't be on it long.

I did a small, small thing in Quiz Show, where I was really just a glorified extra. But, you know, New York actor, few days on a film set: Great! I was probably making subway fare on the play that I was doing at the time. I always think of The Underneath as the first film that I ever did.

For me, I wish I loved every script that I read. Sometimes I'm more picky and choosy than I really should be because you would get more jobs as an actor! But you don't know what it is. Sometimes you read something and it could be a big part or a small part. It could be one scene and I'll read it and say: "Wow, I really like that and I really want to do that.".

Go is one of my favorite things that I ever did. Not that I critique myself, but sometimes I'll be passing by the television, and I'll say, "Meh, maybe I would have done that a little different." I can't help [but] do that. But Go was one of those things - I really loved working with Doug Liman. Detective Burke in Go is one of those roles that's about everything I like to do. I love parts like that. And Go seems to be the thing that rolled it all into one.

When I was younger, I never wanted to rehearse because I thought that someone would figure out I don't know what I'm doing.

As much as I moved to New York and tried to work in theater as much as I could - I developed a relationship with Circle Rep - make no mistake about it, I really, really wanted to be in a film. It seemed like almost everyone I knew at least did something in a movie, except me.

Sometimes the scene is a sad scene but you have to play it with a laugh to find out that that doesn't work or that there's really a part of that in it, and that's what rehearsal is for, to take that time.

Whether it's one scene or 15 scenes in a film, whether it's the lead or a cameo part, if I don't find it interesting, I tend not to do it. You never really know what it is. It could be a one-scene part. I remember I read the one scene in Crash and was asked to do it. I was like, "Absolutely!" There's no formula for how something has to be. I always try to keep it that way.

Ridley Scott - not that he shared it a lot, but you can just see that everything he did, Ridley always seemed to be just so clear. I love that about him.

I think that there's no doubt that to work in film is a bit more of a creative journey. It's not that I don't put the same time or heart into something that's on television.