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Well, Good Science Fiction Is Intelligent. It Asks Big Questions That Are On People's Minds. It's Not Impossible. It Has Some Sort Of Root In The Abstract. So Automatically You're Getting Closer To Potentially Divine Sources Of Interest Because It Is Abstract. It's One Of The Only Ways That A Film Actor Can Express Himself In The Abstract And Have Audiences Still Go Along For The Ride. They Don't Contend It. They Accept It, That They're Going To Go Places That Are A Bit More Of The Imagination, A Bit More Out There, And That's More And More Where I Like To Dance.

-Nicolas Cage

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Well, Good Science Fiction

Nicolas Cage

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Well, Good Science Fiction Is Intelligent. It Asks Big Questions That Are On People's Minds. It's Not Impossible. It Has Some Sort Of Root In The Abstract. So Automatically You're Getting Closer To Potentially Divine Sources Of Interest Because It Is Abstract. It's One Of The Only Ways That A Film Actor Can Express Himself In The Abstract And Have Audiences Still Go Along For The Ride. They Don't Contend It. They Accept It, That They're Going To Go Places That Are A Bit More Of The Imagination, A Bit More Out There, And That's More And More Where I Like To Dance.

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I Believe That There's A Way To Question Authority With Manners, With Dignity. There's No Reason To Be Rude About It.

At A Young Age, I Was Interested In Comic Books, Which Was Really How I Learnt To Read. The Name Cage Came From A Comic Book Character Called Power Man.

As A Teenager I Was More Of An Anarchist, But Now I Want People To Thrive And Be Harmonious.

'knowing' Is One Of Those Movies Where You're Going To Get The Spectacle, And You're Going To Have The Entertainment In The Grand Science Fiction Tradition. But Also, It Will Perhaps Stimulate Some Discussion To Help You Sort Out On Your Own Where You Might Choose To Go In Terms Of Your Own Needs. Now, I Say That Without Preaching.

How Do You Say One Actor Is Better Than Another Actor? You Can Definitely Say That In The Olympics If It's The Same Race And Someone Wins The Race. The Only Way To Really Do It And Have It Be Sincere Would Be If You Get All The Actors Together, And They're All Playing The Same Part, And Then You Rate Which One Made You Feel The Most.

I'm One Of Those People That Feels That Americans That Shouldn't Do Shakespeare... The Rhythms Of The English Language And The Mannerisms Of The English Speech Seems To Work Effortlessly With William Shakespeare, But When Americans Do It, Something Seems Stuck.

I Wanted To Make An Image For Myself As An Outlaw Type. A Kind Of Rock 'n' Roll Sensibility.

In This Day And Age, Where You Have A Lot Of Comic Book Movies Made Every Day, And Most Of Them Are Really Good Boys, It's Important To Have A Couple Bad Boys Out There, Too.

I'm Always Fearful Of Something Happening To People I Love. That Doesn't Go Away.

I Know There's Been A Lot That's Been Said About Animated Voice Work, As Though It's 'you Can Do This In Your Jeans And There's No Camera And No Pressure There. It's No Big Deal. It's Easy.' The Truth Is, It's Really A Great Test: How Deep Is Your Ability Is To Access Your Imagination?

Celebrity Is A Word I Take Great Umbrage With. I'm Actively Anti-celebrity.

Guy Pearce Is Very Precise And Clear About Understanding The Rhythm And The Music Of A Scene.

I Don't Know Why It Is, But I Do Like Dancing In The Extreme Situations. I Like That Noise, I Like That Intensity. For Some Reason, It's What I Respond To In Terms Of My Taste And Of My Instincts.

One Of The First Signs Of Being Depressed Is That You Lose Interest In Things. That's Why I Think It Is Important To Stay Passionate.

The Biggest Problem For Me Was Feeling That As I Became More Balanced And A Better Man That I Wouldn't Have The Fire To Create From.

I Don't Think Movies Are The Reason Why This Violence Exists, I Think It's Going To Happen Whether Movies Are There Or Not.

Without Impending On Your Own Personal Choice, There Are Going To Be Those That Wear The Hat Of Religion And Those That Wear The Hat Of Science. I Still Don't Really Understand Why They Can't Wear Both Hats, Because Personally, I Think That They Go Beautifully Together.

Hollywood Didn't Know If I Was An Actor Or A Nut Or If I Was This Crazy Character I Was Playing. I Had Developed An Image Of Being A Little Bit Unusual, Different And Wild.

I Knew I Wanted To Be An Actor When I Was Very Young. I Guess I Was About 6 Years Old At The Time, And I Was Fascinated By Television. I Started Having Waking Fantasies Where I Was In A Movie And There Were Crane Shots Of Me During A Scene.

Mike Myers As Austin Powers Makes Me Laugh - That Was Genius - And Daffy Duck Makes Me Laugh, But I Like Odd Behavior. I Don't Like Hip Dialogue And One-liners And All That Sort Of Cool, Sophomoric Comedy. It's Just Not For Me.

Those Who Have The Ability To Take Action Have The Responsibility To Take Action.

National Treasure

I Like To Work With Young People, Because Young People Haven’t Had Their Dreams Kicked Out Of Them Yet. Full Of Confidence, And Imagination, And Vision, And When They Score That All Gets Empowered.

God Bless The Popcorn Film. Especially Movies Where You Can Take The Kids, Because I Remember Looking Forward To Seeing These Movies With My Parents, And If I Can Give That Back, I'm Gonna Do It.

Halloween Has Always Been Fascinating To Me From A Very Young Age. I Think Any Actor Would Be Fascinated By Halloween Because It's One Of The Only Holidays That Advocates Dressing Up In Makeup And Costumes And Transforming Oneself.

I Want To Try To Apply My Abilities Sometimes To Make Families Happy, So I Have To Make Movies At A Venue That Are Not Gratuitously Violent, That Are Not Using Bullets And Bloodshed, But Are Using Things Like Magic And Fantasy And Enchantment And The Imagination. To Me That's Just All Positive Stuff. But I Am Eclectic And I Still Like To Make Movies For The Midnight Audience As Well.

I've Always Believed That The Greatest Actors Are The Ones That Have The Voices That Are Imitable.

Feel Like Real Time Unfolding. It's Going To Smack Of Reality And Feel As Real As It Can ... The Buildings Themselves Aren't (shown) ... The Movie's About What Happened Amongst This Handful Of Men When The Buildings Came Down.

I Guess It Would Fall Into The Stalker Category More Or Less. I Was Being Stalked By A Mime - Silent But Maybe Deadly. Somehow, This Mime Would Appear On The Set Of 'bringing Out The Dead' And Start Doing Strange Things. I Have No Idea How It Got Past Security. Finally, The Producers Took Some Action And I Haven't Seen The Mime Since. But It Was Definitely Unsettling.

When You're Playing A Spirit From Another Dimension, You Really Can Do Anything And Get As Abstract As You Want And Still Have A Context That Will Work Within The Movie. I Wanted Ghost Rider To Move In A Way Where It Would Be Like A Bad Dream. I Thought About Cobra Snakes, And The Way That They Will Show You Their Backs And Sway In A Rhythmic Motion And Almost Lull You To Sleep Before Suddenly Attacking. Well, I Put That Into The Movie. And I Decided To Move My Head In The Jerky Way A Praying Mantis Does. So, I Did All These Things To Give The Movie A Feeling Of Otherness.

How Do You Rebel In A Family Of Rebels?

I Find It Inspiring And I Always Think When I'm Working On Something New, Whether It's A New Kind Of Character Or A New Kind Of Story Or New Kind Of Camera, It Gets My Creative Wheels Spinning.

Sometimes People Think I'm Wearing A Wig When I'm Not Wearing A Wig, And Then Sometimes They Think I'm Not Wearing A Wig When I Am Wearing A Wig.

I Went To New Orleans For The First Time For Wild At Heart, And I Kept Going Back To Make More Movies There. I've Become Very Close To The City And Part Of Me Does Feel Like A New Orleanian.

I've Been Lucky To Work With Some Of The Most Creative People And It's True That I Enjoy Filmmaking And I'm An Enthusiast.

I Want To Make All Kinds Of Movies. I Do Want To Make Big Movies That Are A Lot Of Fun To Go To, But I Also Want To Make Movies That Are Going To Stimulate Some Thought And Maybe Raise Some Awareness.

I've Always Had A Soft Spot For Comic Books. I Learned To Read From Them. The Words In Them Were So Interesting.

I Don't Want A Perfect Character, I Want A Character Who Has, As Strange As It Sounds, Some Humanity, Some Flaws, Some Needs.

It's A Family That's Loaded With Grudges And Passion. We Come From A Long Line Of Robbers And Highwaymen In Italy, You Know. Killers, Even.

Generally My Instinct Is To Not Do Biographical Movies. I Want To Build Characters And Not Be Locked Into Playing A Part In History.

I'm Always Going To Judge Somebody On Their Work Ethic, And Whether Or Not They Made Me Feel Something, Or Whether Or Not I Felt They Did A Good Job. To Me, It's Important To Try To Block Anything Personal Out And Look At The Performance, In Any Field.

I'm Legally Unable To Ride Motorcycles. It's A Contract That I Have With My Life Insurance, So Whenever I Get A Chance To Do A Movie And Ride A Bike I Go For It.

I Don't Like It When People On The Street Say "smile" Or "cheer Up." It's A Real Cheap Line. I'm Feeling Good. I'm Feeling Real Grateful For Everything. It's A Solid Time In My Life. When People Say I Look Sad, They're Wrong.

I Would Love To Work With Tim Burton. I Think We Would Be Very Good Together.

I Always Say To Myself That If I Can Make A Movie That Makes A Kid Smile Or Gives Them Some Hope Or Something To Get Excited About, Then I'm Applying Myself In The Best Way That I Can. I Don't Think That Just Goes For Kids. I Think That It Goes For Adults, As Well, And For Families.

I Am Not A Demon. I Am A Lizard, A Shark, A Heat-seeking Panther. I Want To Be Bob Denver On Acid Playing The Accordion.

I Hit The Ground Running, Without A Lot Of Training, So I Had To Do Whatever I Could Do To Survive As A Professional, And If That Meant Being That Character 24/7 And Acting Out, I Was Going To Do That. I Lived Those Characters, I Brought Them Home With Me.

I'm Not Really Gadget Oriented. I'm Not Into Technology Or Computers. I'm Not Good At Interfacing With That Sort Of Gear.

The Most Meaningful Movies I Can Make Are The Ones Where Parents Can Share Them With Their Children And Children Can Look Forward To Sharing Them With Their Parents, A Ritual If You Will, Where They Get To Spend Time Together And The Kids Are Smiling.

The End Of The World Is On People's Minds. We Have The Power To Destroy Or Save Ourselves, But The Question Is What Do You Do With That Responsibility.

When I Work, I Really Try To Get Absorbed In The Character. Unless I Want To Do Something Playful With The Camera, I'm Not Too Worried About Where The Camera Is Or Positions.

When I Won The Oscar, I Made A Point Of Actively Going Against That And Doing Adventure Films Like 'con Air' And 'gone In 60 Seconds,' Not What Would Be Expected.

You Get Dinged For Wanting To Do A Comedy, Then Wanting To Do A Big-budget Action Film, And Then Wanting To Do An Indie. But You Can't Let Other People Trying To Label You Get In The Way Of Trying To Do Something Artistically.

Well, Good Science Fiction Is Intelligent. It Asks Big Questions That Are On People's Minds. It's Not Impossible. It Has Some Sort Of Root In The Abstract. So Automatically You're Getting Closer To Potentially Divine Sources Of Interest Because It Is Abstract. It's One Of The Only Ways That A Film Actor Can Express Himself In The Abstract And Have Audiences Still Go Along For The Ride. They Don't Contend It. They Accept It, That They're Going To Go Places That Are A Bit More Of The Imagination, A Bit More Out There, And That's More And More Where I Like To Dance.

I'm Sticking My Tongue Out In Scenes To Try To Make That Work In 3d. I'm Thinking I'll Try To Get My Tongue All The Way Out To The Second Row Of The Audience.

I Like The Idea Of Being Involved In Pictures That Can Entertain The Entire Family And Can Stimulate Youngsters Into Looking At Picture Books. There's Nothing Wrong With That.

Mel Blanc Is A Hero Because Of What He Could Do With His Voice For All The Looney Tunes, The Warner Brothers Cartoons, To Be The Voice Of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Porky Pig. To Me, He's A Great Actor.

I Think A Good Movie Is A Good Movie Whether That Falls Into A Genre Or Not.

Film Acting Is One Of The Only Industries Where You're Criticized For Working Hard. In Any Other Industry, It's Considered A Quality And Something To Behold.

With Every Action Oriented Or Adventure Film, There's Going To Be A Moment When Every Actor Becomes A Stuntman And Every Stuntman Becomes An Actor. You Try To Do As Much Of It As You Can, But Inevitably The Studio Wants You To Finish The Movie. So You've Got To Slow Down And You're Really Got To Defer To Your Team To Make Sure You Do.

I'm An Enormous Admirer Of Christopher Lee. He's Somebody, Along With Vincent Price, Who I Celebrate, And I Wanted My Movies To Show That Celebration And That Honoring Of These Great Film Stars That Were Unafraid To Go Into Horror And Grand Guignol And The Macabre.

Actors, Their Greatest Tool, Their Greatest Resource Is Imagination. You Can Take Things, Power Objects, You Can Recruit Your Dreams, You Can Access Your Memories And Get There. So The Idea Is Not To Act But To Just Be.

Disney Has A Great Tradition Of Enchanting Children And Giving Them Something To Behold.

I Try Not To Be Proud. I Try To Actively Attack Pride.

One Day, One Of My Dreams Is To Someday Get To Do Nemo In '20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.'

Nobody Can Make A Movie As Exciting As Jerry Bruckheimer. When It's A Jerry Bruckheimer Movie That It's Going To Have Lots Of Chrome And Gloss, It's Going To Be Sexy, And It's Going To Be Big And Fun.

I Don't Know If My Wife Left Me Because Of My Drinking Or I Started Drinking 'cause My Wife Left Me.

Having Been A Father For 19 Years I Realise Fatherhood Has Changed Me.

All Of My Characters Have A Glint Of Madness.

Hopefully As A Result Of 'the Frozen Ground,' More And More People Will Be Aware Of The Horrible Things That Happen To Ladies All Over The World And Give Them Respect. This Movie Is A Love Letter To Those Victims.

I Would Like To Hook Up With One Of The Great Japanese Filmmakers, Like The Master That Made Ringu, And I Would Like To Take 'the Wicker Man' To Japan, Except This Time He's A Ghost.

I'm The First To Admit That I Like Going To, Or My Memories At Least Of Going To Clint Eastwood Movies Or Charles Bronson Or James Bond.

I Would Like To Find A Way To Embrace What Led Zeppelin Did, In Filmmaking.

I Haven't Made Anything I Don't Believe In. I've Always Started A Movie With A Song In My Heart, And Even When I'm A Little Unclear About It, Something Magical Happens And It Comes Into Focus In A Way That I'm Feeling Good About.

When I Act, I Hear It Like Music. In My Head, I Hear The Dialogue Like Music.

I Loved 'fantasia' As A Kid Because It Filled Me With Wonder, Enchantment And Awe. It Was My First Real Introduction Into Classical Music. It Was Totally Inspiring To Me.

Tattoos To Me Are The Outward Symbol Of The Inward Change Within My Soul.

My Father Was Always Getting Excited About Something. It's Genetically Inside Me Somewhere.

I Certainly Would Never Overstep My Bounds And Make Suggestions To A Director. As An Actor I'm Trying To Fit To The Best Of My Abilities Within The Director's Vision, And Trying To Find Some Happy Rapport Where We Can Both Bring Something To It That's Fresh. Usually I've Been Lucky In Working With Directors Who Have Trusted My Instincts.

I Know What It's Like To Meet Someone You Admire And Have Them Be A Complete Jerk.

I Think I Jump Around More When I'm Alone.

I Like Both Blu-ray And Dvd, But Blu-ray Gives You More Options.

I Have A Love/ Hate Relationship With The City Of New Orleans, Which Is The Strongest Kind Of Relationship.

Sometimes I Do Love To Rehearse, But I Always Switch It Up Depending On Whom I'm Working With.

I Think That 'ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance' Was Mentally Taxing, If Only Because I Had To Go To A Christmas Party Shortly After I Had Wrapped Photography In Romania At Two In The Morning As The Ghost Rider. The Invitation Had A Christmas Ornament On It With Ghost Rider's Face On It As A Tree.

I See Myself As A Student. I Would Never Call Myself A Master Or A Maestro. If You Take The Path Of The Student, That Means You Have To Try A Little Bit Of Everything In Hopes That You're Going To Learn Something Or Strike Some Kind Of New Note, Expression In The Process. I'm Not Going For Grades; I'm Going For An Education. I'm Going To Continue Experimenting And Trying New Things To Try To Evolve And Learn.

It's Always Exciting When You Can Go Into A Mode Where You Can Be Both Spontaneous And Choreographed. Sort Of In Control And Out Of Control At The Same Time.

Peter Fonda Is The Reason I Became A Motorcyclist. I Saw Easy Rider And I Bought A Motorcycle The Next Day, And I Rode It All The Way From La To San Francisco.

I Do Like To Move And Get Physical In My Movies.

The Only Way The Devil Really Exists In My Opinion... Is In Interactions With People Who Don't Walk The Walk And Talk The Talk; People Who Act One Way, Or Talk One Way And Then Do Another. Those Are The Deals With The Devil. I Don't See The Devil As Somebody Who Is A Horned, Goateed Guy With A Fork In His Hand That's There To Continuously Stab Me And Send My Soul To Hell. I Don't See It That Way At All.

I Find Children Inspiring. The Way They Look At The World. The Magical World They Live In, To Me, Is Inspiring.

I've Really Had Good Luck Working With Younger Actors. Every Younger Actor That I Have Worked With Has Always Been Really On Top Of Their Game And Fascinating To Watch.

Nobody Wants To Watch Perfection.

I Think What Makes People Fascinating Is Conflict, It's Drama, It's The Human Condition. Nobody Wants To Watch Perfection.

I Don't Want To Just Do Independent Movies And I Don't Want To Just Do Adventure Films. I Enjoy Both, And I Think Both Are Cogent.

People Often Say That You Should Never Work With Child Actors. I Think That's All Wrong. Children Have Not Had The Imagination Kicked Out Of Them By Life Experience And Adulthood. So, They Still Are Very Much Alive With That Kind Of Magical Thinking Which Enables An Actor To Believe They're In These Circumstances And Make Them Real To You.

Don't Lose The Best Thing In Your Life Just Because You Are Not Sure.

I Was Thinking About Being More Global In My Work, Which Means Trying More Foreign Countries And Working With Foreign Filmmakers, Hoping They Would Give Me A New Take On My Work, A New Point Of View, Reinvent Me In Some Way.

Every Great Story Seems To Begin With A Snake.

I'm Very Impressed With 'drive.'

Without Mentioning Any Names, I Looked At Pretty Much Every Story That May Come To Your Mind About A Politician On The Rise Who Was Stopped Short Or Dragged Down By Personal Flaws And Then Became Just A Media Storm. I See This As A Thing That Continues To Happen In America And I Wanted To Say Something About That.

I Generally Enjoy The Rehearsal Process Because That's Where You Can Share Your Ideas, Get Your Thoughts And Feelings Out And See Whether Or Not They're Going To Land, Whether Or Not People Are Going To Agree With Them, Particularly The Director. So You Can Sort Out In That Process Any Elements That Need To Be Sorted Out Before You're On The Set, And Of Course That Saves Time And It Also Makes Everyone More Comfortable Working Together.

I Try To Do As Many Stunts As They'll Let Me Do. I Think It's Important For An Audience To Feel That The Actor's Really Doing It.

My Definition Of A Father Is Someone Who Empowers Their Children.

I Love All Animals. I Have A Fascination With Fish, Birds, Whales - Sentient Life - Insects, Reptiles.

I'll Speak For Myself, But There's A Lot Of Humor To Be Found In Sarcasm And Darkness. You Talk To Any Paramedic, They Survive By Developing A Pretty Off-kilter Sense Of Humor.

I Cry A Lot. My Emotions Are Very Close To My Surface. I Don't Want To Hold Anything In So It Festers And Turns Into Pus - A Pustule Of Emotion That Explodes Into A Festering Cesspool Of Depression.

I Use Technology For Communication, But I Don't Have A Blackberry Or An Iphone. I Use An Outdated Cell Phone, But I'm Fine With It.

We Do See Gong Li, Zhang Ziyi And Chow Yun Fat, But It's Very Rare To See The Chinese Male Actor In Hollywood Movies, Which Is Something I Take Great Umbrage With. You Know, My Son Is Asian. He May Want To Direct One Day; He May Want To Be An Actor Like His Father - And I Want That To Be Open To Him.

One Of My Goals Is To Have A Base Near Mainland China. I Think Hong Kong Would Be A Good Match For Me. I Like Being In Hong Kong.

I Always Say, If You Think It’s Over The Top Then Tell Me Where The Top Is First. I Don’t Think Anyone Can. But If You Can Tell Me Where The Top Is Then I’ll Tell You Whether Or Not I’m Over It.

I'm Going To Steal The Declaration Of Independence.

National Treasure

I Needed To Change My Name Just To Liberate Myself And Find Out I Could Do It Without Walking Into A Hollywood Casting Office With The Name Coppola.

You Aren't A True Internationalist Until You've Supplied Weapons To Kill Your Own Countrymen.

The Fact That 'astro Boy' Appealed To Me As A Boy In America Was Proof That The Story And Character Transcend Cultural Stereotypes.

I Do Enjoy Animated Movies. I Really Love Anime And Movies Like 'spirited Away' And 'howl's Moving Castle.'

I Have A Love-hate Relationship With New Orleans, Which Is The Strongest Sort Of Relationship. I've Had Some Extraordinary, Beautiful, Poetic Experiences In This City And I've Had Some Terrible Experiences In This City. I'm Drawn To New Orleans, In Many Ways Feel I Grew Up In New Orleans, Even Though I'm From The West.

I Actually Enjoy Working With Green Screen, Because I Can Imagine All That Stuff Happening, And I Really Cut My Teeth On A Movie I Made Called "adaptation" Where I Had To Imagine Four-page Dialogue Scenes With My Twin Brother, Who Was Nothing More Than A Tennis Ball And A Gas Stand.

I'm Not An Anarchist Any More. I Still Love The Sex Pistols, But I Don't Want To Be A Punk Rocker All The Time, But I Do Want To Carry On Exploring New Forms Of Acting.

I Invite The Entire Spectrum, Shall We Call It, Of Feeling. Because That Is My Greatest Resource As A Film Actor. I Need To Be Able To Feel Everything, Which Is Why I Refuse To Go On Any Kind Of Medication. Not That I Need To! But My Point Is, I Wouldn't Even Explore That, Because It Would Get In The Way Of My Instrument.

Passion Is Very Important To Me. If You Stop Enjoying Things, You've Got To Look At It, Because It Can Lead To All Kinds Of Depressing Scenarios.

I Like Being At That Place Where You Can Either Fall Or Stand. That's Where I Think You Really Have A Shot At Doing Something Truthful.

I Have Eclectic Tastes In The Movies I Want To Do.

You Often Feel Like You Are On A High Wire With No Net Productions Because You Have To Rely On Spontaneity And Come Up With Ideas On The Spur Of The Moment - And Then What Happens Is That There Is Electricity To It That Gets Caught.

Picasso Said Art Is A Lie That Tells The Truth. What If You Just Want To Tell The Truth And Not Lie About It?

I Think That Movies Can Help Guide Us Through Those Experiences [the Problems That Are Happening In Our Daily Lives, The Stresses Between Countries, The Economy And Global Warming]. I Think All Art Tries To Grapple With, Redefine, Come To Terms With, Express What's Happening Now When It's Working. You Can Be Entertained, But You Can Also Be Stimulated To Think About Things.

It's Amazing Marrying Someone Who Wants Nothing To Do With Hollywood.

I Do Like Characters That Have Flaws, Some Sort Of Pathos To Them That They Are Trying To Sort Out.

If You Have People That Totally Support You And Have Your Back, I Feel Like You Have All The Confidence In The World, And You Believe That You Can Do Things That Most People Can't Achieve. I Feel That's Really Important.

Well, Amber [heard] Is Still Raising Her Eyebrow At Me Because I Said That I've Been 180 Miles Per Hour On The 405 Freeway On A Motorcycle And She Doesn't Believe Me But It's A True Story. I Did It Coming Home From Work At 3 In The Morning On Another Movie I Made About Cars Called Gone In 60 Seconds. I Bought A Yamaha-1 And I Was Doing 180 Miles Per Hour Home On The 405 And That's Really, Really Crazy But I Did It.

When I Was Eight, I Would Look At The Cover Of The 'ghost Rider' Comic Book In My Little Home In Long Beach, California, And I Couldn't Get My Head Around How Something That Scary Could Also Be Good. To Me It Was My First Philosophical Awakening - 'how Is This Possible, This Duality?'

There Are Over 550 Million Firearms In Worldwide Circulation. That's One Firearm For Every Twelve People On The Planet. The Only Question Is, How Do We Arm The Other 11?

And What I Like About It Is It Makes Me Happy And I Think It Makes A Lot Of People Happy To Go To The Movies And To Not Think About The Problems Of The Day Or The Problems Of Tomorrow Or The Yesterday And Just Go On For The Ride And Have The Fun Of Losing Oneself In A Fantasy.

I Remember Once Imagining What My Life Would Be Like, What I'd Be Like. I Pictured Having All These Qualities, Strong Positive Qualities That People Could Pick Up On From Across The Room. But As Time Passed, Few Became Qualities That I Actually Had. And All The Possibilities I Faced, And The Sorts Of People I Could Be, All Of Them Got Reduced Every Year To Fewer And Fewer Until Finally They Got Reduced To One - To Who I Am. And That's Who I Am.

To Be A Good Actor You Have To Be Something Like A Criminal, To Be Willing To Break The Rules To Strive For Something New.

Yeah, My Real Name Is Coppola. I Changed It Because They'd Think I Was Some Nepotism-oriented Kid.

Most Of My Favourite Moments In Film Have Been When I've Had An Opportunity To Say Something From Scratch, Something Original, Whether I Jotted Down A Few Lines Or It Came Out In Improvisation.

I Try To Keep My Characters Raising More Questions Than Giving Answers. I Don't Want To Leave Too Much On The Table. I Want You To Have Your Connection And Your Secret Understanding Of The Character.

I Have Dogs, And It's No Secret That I Find Reptiles Interesting, But The Thing About Reptiles Is That They Really Just Wanna Be Left Alone, And I Understand Them. It's, 'don't Pick Me Up, Stop Holding Me, Don't Look At Me, Just Leave Me Alone.' I Have To Admit, Sometimes I Feel Like That.

I Always See America As Really Belonging To The Native Americans. Even Though I'm American, I Still Feel Like A Visitor In My Own Country.

Native American

Often You Hear Stories About Never Working With Children. I Disagree Because Children Still Have That Residual Magical Thinking. They Haven't Had Their Imagination Knocked Out Of Them By Turning Into Adults And Life Experiences.

These So Called Popcorn Movies, Or Family Movies, Actually Provide Something Quite Beautiful And Something Quite Necessary, Which Is A Family Bonding Experience.

I'm Not Afraid To Play Ugly - Look At 'adaptation.' I Looked Like A Turd That A Cat Had Coughed Up.

I'm Always Curious About What Happens When We Die. And I'd Like To Think That Somehow The Spirit Goes On. I'd Rather Not Think That It's Just About This.

Nobody Ever Thinks Clearly At The Airport.

My Best Takes Are My First Two Takes.

I Always Add A Year To Myself, So I'm Prepared For My Next Birthday. So When I Was 39, I Was Already 40.

One Of The Great Bonuses Of Being A Film Actor Is That I Get To Go To Different Places, Meet Inspiring People And Learn Different Things. So All Those Details Add Up.

I Really Think It's Important That My Beliefs Don't Impinge Upon What You Get From The Movie. It's Your Opinion That Matters And It's Far More Interesting Than Mine.

You Can't Make Your Choices Based On What Critics Think. You Have To Make Your Choices Based On What's Honest For You.

Children, To Me, Are Of The Utmost Importance. They're Really The Future, Aren't They?

I Haven't Isolated Myself. I Am Not Living On A Yacht Somewhere. I Am Not Tucked Away Or Behind A Gate Somewhere. I Am Not Flying On A Private Plane. I Am Going To The Airport, I Am With People, Some Of The Interactions Are Good, Some Of Them Are Not So Good, But It Keeps Me In Touch With Being, You Know, Part Of Society.

I Don't Find The Same Things Funny That Many Other People Seem To Find Funny. I Don't Really Respond To Sex Jokes And Things Like That, And Some Of My Friends Look At Me And Go, "come On, Nic, That Was My Best Joke. Why Aren't You Laughing?" I Go, "i Really Don't Know Why I'm Not Laughing. I'm Sort Of Out Of Sync With It." So I'd Have To Find Something That Was Really About Weird Human Behavior For Me To Laugh.

I've Acted Professionally Since I Was 16.

Film Has Lost Something In The Translation To High Tech. It's Become So Super-real. It's With Digital This And Stereo That, And Everything's Like A Cd.

Acting Is Always At The Core Of My Life, But I'm Also Excited About Producing. I'm Excited About Directing, And I Have A Life In The Filmmaking World, And So I Want To Explore All Aspects Of It, Not Just The Acting, But Acting Is The Root.

If You're Really Special, Meaning You're Doing Something Unique And Original, It Could Scare People.

I Was Always Shocked When I Went To The Doctor's Office And They Did My X-ray And Didn't Find That I Had Eight More Ribs Than I Should Have Or That My Blood Was The Color Green.

I Just Try To Keep It Fresh. I Try To Keep It Interesting. The Truth Is My Roots Are Independently Spirited Dramas That Are Small, And I Will Always Go Back To That Well, Because That's Where I Broke Out Of. But I'm Going To Keep Doing As Many Different Movies As I Possibly Can.

I Would Say That I'm 98 Percent Skeptical, But The Other 2 Percent [is] Open For The Possibility Of Things.

I Don't Drink Blood, And Last Time I Looked In The Mirror, I Had A Reflection.

I Just Want To Keep Making Movies That Hopefully Makes Some Kids Smile.

It's No Secret That I've Always Had An Interest In Mythology. Whether It's Arthurian Or Ancient Greek Or Even Marvel Universe. I've Always Connected With It On Some Level.

I Think Anything That Opens My Mind And Triggers My Imagination I'm Reading. I Like To Read Science Fiction And Imagine The Character. Anything That Keeps My Imagination Flowing.

If I Could Have Been A Marine Biologist I Would Have, But I Didn't Have That Kind Of Intelligence. Numbers Were Never My Strong Point.

My Father Always Used To Say To Me, It Doesn’t Matter What The Profession Is, But If They’re The Best In Their Field, It Will Always Be Fascinating To Watch.

First Of All The Criteria That I Have That Goes Into Any Career Decision Is Whether Or Not I Have The Life Experience, Emotional Resources To Play The Part Truthfully Or The Imagination. Second, Would Be The Director.

I've Always Maintained That I See Myself As A Student. There's Always Something To Learn And Be Challenged By And Hopefully Grow From.

One Of The Pluses Of Getting Older Is You Set Some Limits.

I Wasn't Any Good At Romnace. I Was A Total Nerd. My Thing Is, I Was Just Too Romantic. I Was The Romantic Goofball. I Wasn't Cynical Enough Or Harsh Enough. I Cared Too Much, So I Always Made A Fool Out Of Myself.

If You Get A Chance, Whenever You're Traveling, Do Go To The Local Boutique Comic Book Shop And Don't Buy Your Comics Online 'cause Those Guys Are Going To Go Extinct, In A Minute Here, And We Want To Be Able To Have Those Experiences With Our Kids.

There's A Fine Line Between The Method Actor And The Schizophrenic.

When You're Playing Supernatural Characters, There's An Infinite Number Of Possibilities With A Character. And I Also Think They're Wonderful And Entertaining For The Whole Family. You Don't Have A High Body Count.

All Movies On Some Level Can Aspire To Be More Than Just Whatever The Label Is Of The Movie.

I Do Understand Sometimes When Actors Say There's No One To Talk To, Or You Can't React To, There's Truth In That, But For Me, I've Always Enjoyed Green Screen, And Blue Screen.

Zoology Has Always Been Interesting To Me. Nature Is Fascinating.

Some Things Are True Whether You Believe In Them Or Not.

Snakes Are Sometimes Perceived As Evil, But They Are Also Perceived As Medicine. If You Look At An Ambulance, There's The Two Snakes On The Side Of The Ambulance. The Caduceus, Or The Staff Of Hermes, There's The Two Snakes Going Up It, Which Means That The Venom Can Also Be Healing.

I Never Say Never, But I Haven't Been Given The Quality Of Script To Compel Me To Go On Television.

As I Got Older, With My Work, I Became Aware Of The Responsibility Of Film, And I Feel One Of The Best Ways I Can Apply Myself As An Actor, Is To Go Beyond Movie Stardom And Celebrity.

Actors Work With Their Look. I Come From The Lon Chaney Sr. School Of Acting. I'll Wear Wigs, I'll Wear Nose Pieces, I'll Wear Green Contact Lenses In My Eyes. I'll Do Whatever I Need To Do To Create A Character.

It's Important To Keep The Eccentric Spirit Alive, Because When That Goes, The Work Will Go.

To Begin... To Begin... How To Start? I'm Hungry. I Should Get Coffee. Coffee Would Help Me Think. Maybe I Should Write Something First, Then Reward Myself With Coffee. Coffee And A Muffin. Okay, So I Need To Establish The Themes. Maybe A Banana-nut. That's A Good Muffin.

I Always Wanted To Find A Way To Apply My Acting In A Big Mad Monster Movie Where I Was Transforming Into This Scary Entity.

When You Have 400 People Watching You Making A Movie, It Doesn't Go Where You Want It To Go. It's A Lot Of Pressure.

When I Started Experimenting With Fantasy And Horror Films And Looking For Characters Who Had Some Sort Of Emotional Or Mental Difficulty, I Saw Opportunities To Express My Music - Dare I Say Art - In A Way That I Could Get A Bit Surreal.

That Was One Of The Reasons Why I Wanted To Tell The Story Of Colin Price. I Saw Someone In This Fictionalized Political Character That Was Trying To Do Something Important For His City. He Meant Well, But Then You See That The Human Flaws Had Really Derailed His Past. It Seems To Be Happening More And More In Our Country. I Wanted To Hold A Mirror Up To That.

I Came Out Of Independent Film, That's My Roots.

More Than Ever, Movies Reveal Themselves As Healing, As Helpful, As Encouraging, As Escapist - Anything That Makes Someone Get Through Their Day In These Times. It's The Best Form Of Entertainment, And It's Still Arguably The Most Inexpensive Form Of Entertainment.

Everything We Do Impacts Someone Else's Life.

Good Science Fiction Is Intelligent. It Asks Big Questions That Are On People's Minds. It's Not Impossible. It Has Some Sort Of Root In The Abstract.

I Care About The Connection With The Audience. Film Is Such A Powerful Medium. Movies Can Change The Way People Think.

I Would Definitely Return To Austria. They Were All Good Experiences For Me, But Definitely Austria Because There Were Some Ancient Celtic, Sacred Sites That Were In The Forest That Were Quite Beautiful.

I Love Working With Younger Actors Because They Always Come Into The Game Full Of Energy And Ideas That Challenge Me And Keep Me Learning And Stimulated.

I Think It's No Secret That I've Tried To Take Chances In My Career And Also In My Life, And I Believe To Not Live In Fear.

I Don't Want To Sit Around By The Pool Luxuriating With A Margarita. That's Just Not What I Want To Do.

In The Beginning My Energy And Passion For Acting Came From An Almost Punk Rock Need To Express A Lot Of Anger Wherever That May Have Come From. As I Got Older, It Became Or Is Coming More From A Place Of Wanting To Use The Craft To Help Others In Some Way, To Hold A Mirror Up To The Situations That We're Going Through, To Actually Be More Cautious About The Way That I Use The Power Of Film And To See If There's Anything That I Can Do In The Performances That Will Resonate In The Public A Similar String That's On People's Minds And Is On My Mind. That Way We Have That Relationship.

My House Is Basically A Trailer. I Live A Circus Lifestyle. I'm Always Moving. It's Not Always Easy For People That Live With Me, But That's The Path I Chose.

I Didn't Play The Ghost Rider In The First Movie. That Was A Stuntman. In This Film, The Ghost Rider Feels Much More Alive Because I Did Put Some Thought Into How He Should Walk And Into How He Should Move. I Was So Into The Character, In Fact, That I Would Paint My Face With White And Black Makeup To Look Like A Skull. And I Put On Blacked-out Contact Lenses, So I Almost Looked Like An Afro-new Orleanian Voodoo Icon By The Name Of Baron Samedi. Oh Man, I Would Walk Around The Set Without Saying A Word To Anybody, And I Could See The Fear In My Co-stars' And Co-directors' Eyes.

There Is A Misperception, If You Will, In Critical Response Or Even In Hollywood, That I Can Only Do Exaggerated Characters. Or What They Would Call Over-the-top Performances. Well, This Is Completely False.

I Do Enjoy Animated Movies.

Animated Movies

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