Quotes

Acting to me has always been like a battlefield. An actor has a choice. He can stay back with the generals and be safe, or he can be up in the front lines. I like being up in the front lines.

Personally, I prefer movies about people and life, so when I read scripts that's what I look for. I look to have a gut instinct about the character I play.

You know, there's a lot of scum in this business - and they may outnumber the good people. But I've met some of the most *incredible* people whom I wouldn't have otherwise known if I *wasn't* in this business. Warren [Oates] was one of 'em. He was one of the nicest, sweetest people you would ever want to meet in your life.

I had admired [Elia] Kazan from Texas my entire life. I had never met him though, not even in New York. He said, "I'm doing this little film, and somebody mentioned your name to me..." He gave me an opportunity that changed my life. I loved that man. I got to know him, and we spent time when we weren't working just walking and talking around the city and at his house in Connecticut. I will always be very grateful for the opportunity that he gave me.

Okay, now, you may get different opinions from different people, but since I played Duane Barry this is what I tried to show. I really feel that he had had it up to here. Nobody believed him and he was telling the truth. He kind of went over the edge because he didn't know what else to do. He's a very honest man, I think, and whatever happened to him happened to him. He's not a psycho in that sense, he's just somebody who can't take it any more.

I've had the opportunity to do some wonderful things and bad choices came along with it, but I don't resent it. I don't blame anybody. It's me. I made these choices.

When they cast me, they wanted me to meet [Charles Manson], but I didn't want him to manipulate me into thinking he was something he wasn't. I didn't meet him, but I did watch a 10-minute documentary on him about five times. I would watch those eyes, how he moved, how he walked. I could tell he wanted people to think he was a bad dude - and he was.

After that movie [Helter Skelter] happened, I was offered every killer in town, whether it was theatrical or on TV. Everybody wanted me to watch everything Manson was on. "He's gonna be on Tom Snyder, you gotta watch!" That's OK, thank you. I wanted to move on. I didn't act for a year.

Never get in a place where you think, 'I know it all.' Because you don't.

Peter O'Toole? The man was a brilliant man. He was a very giving actor, and he was a very giving man. Acting is about giving. Acting isn't about waiting for your cues and saying the lines. You give when you make choices as an actor.