Paul Giamatti Quotations

Lead roles are fun, but I'm especially happy other, more colorful supporting stuff has come along.

You are absolutely free to describe me as a turtle or something.

I was the youngest child and got a lot more freedom than my brother and sister. I used to wander, doing my own thing under the radar, but I didn't get in bad, bad trouble.

As an actor, to have achieved financial stability is amazing. But I always have this weird fear that I'm not going to get any more work; it's about not having enough money.

Am I really cool? You're telling me I'm cool? Well, that's good to hear.

I learned how to fire a sniper rifle, which I'm sure will be useful at some point.

The supporting thing can be harder to pop in and out of. The hardest thing is the people who have to come in and play, say, the bartender for a day - that's a lot harder than playing the lead role. You have to pop in and get it right. It's a lot of pressure to just pop in there and fit in and find your footing really fast.

I find that the crazy narcissists, the selfish loons are often the most fun to be around, weirdly.

I suppose there must be some way in which I'm compelled to show some side of myself - or of people - that's paranoid and fraught and beleaguered and downtrodden, just as Tom Cruise wants to show that he's terrifyingly upbeat and terrifyingly heroic all the time.

Acting can be a really silly thing. It's like playing dress-up.

I like playing weird, kind of shady people.

I've very critical of myself, and film has been an adjustment for me.

It'd be disingenuous to say I don't like attention - I'm an actor for God's sake - and it's flattering and all, but attention was never my big goal. I just like to work and have a good time.

Academia is a rarified culture, especially an Ivy League academic background.

I don't consider myself a very interesting person. I have the mentality of a supporting actor.

I still want to be the guy who can get on the subway and check out the freak on the subway.

I'm clearly not Brad Pitt, and I'm never going to be Brad Pitt.

It is because my dad died suddenly that I became an actor. I thought, I'm going to make money doing this thing I enjoy.

This whole business feels kind of intense, like a bad fit. Round peg, square hole. But whatever, I'll take it.

I mean, I'm not going to play the hero of something.

I never thought I would have any particular career in movies at all.

I'm not a big wine guy. And bars, I never go to bars anymore. It's such a drag, man.

I definitely have a tendency to only see the blemishes of things, and see lots of things about my acting that I don't like.

I don't mind talking about acting. I don't have anything interesting to say about it, but it's interesting talking about it.

I don't think film actors need training, really.

I can't imagine a greater honor than being acknowledged by my peers. Being an actor is a hell of a thing. It's a hell of a thing. It's up and down. It's great, but I found the best thing about it is hanging around the craft-service table with other actors and crew people, eating doughnuts.

I can't imagine a greater honor than being acknowledged by my peers.

He's clearly got a temper on him. When we met, the first thing he said to me was, 'I'm an irascible guy' - and he clearly can be - but he was great to work with. I never saw him show his temper because most of the time I was working with him he was getting to hit somebody else in the story.

Somehow whatever I play ends up being sleazy.

Sometimes, I think I may be more recognizable because I'm character-looking.

People say he's an intimidating guy and stuff like that. I suppose he is, but it's his talent that makes him intimidating more than anything else.

The most surprising thing about it is I thought he's going to walk in and it's going to be like these stories you always hear about De Niro where he does 45 takes of walking through a door,

You start to really lose perspective on the movie when the critical response is as weirdly, regressively unanimous as it is.

I'm not a guy who has a lot of, 'I want to work with so-and-so.' I'll take whatever work I can get.

I have the mentality of a supporting actor.

Honestly, I never wanted to be more than a good supporting actor. Really, I enjoy it.

I've got to be the geekiest guy in the world in a lot of ways. I'm like a zeta male.

I like to work - I probably work too much.

I get tired of myself pretty fast.

Well, you know, when people say stuff about you, it's always really flattering. But does it mean anything to me? It's not really real to me; there's no reality to it.

And I asked my mother 'can I touch the lady in the water? And she said yes I could, but I had to touch Mommy first. And then I asked, 'Mom, can I date the lady in the water?' and she said smiling 'sure, but you gotta date me first.' And yesterday I said 'Mom, may I marry the lady in the water?' and she said o.k., but you'll have to marry me first.

I definitely had a top-notch education.

I always would be happy to make a character even more unlikable, but you know, there's a limit and if you go there, you get into a very different kind of movie, man.

Maybe it's because I have too much pride or self-respect, but I thought, `Why does a guy who has thinning hair and who is overweight have to be a loser or a joke?'

Come on, man.... Hemingway, Sexton, Plath, Woolf. You can't kill yourself before you're even published.

I don't mind being stereotyped in some way and playing certain kinds of guys, but if I can find something to occasionally get a break from that, that would be nice. And I feel like I manage to.

My definition of likeable may be different from other people's. That's not traditional likeable. Sympathy is a different thing [to define it].

I'd like to have permanent time off, really. The goal is financial security and permanent time off, basically.

I think I have a tendency to overwork things. I have a hard time finding that sweet spot that most actors seem to be able to hit where they're doing the exact right amount of work, not overthinking, not underdoing it. I seem to either overdo it or underdo it.

I don't think I gave a good enough performance to be nominated for it. I thought I gave a fine performance, but those things are supposed to be about giving an extraordinary performance.

The broad comedy thing is really hard to do on film.

I married a Jewish lady, and we're raising our son Jewish, and since I'm not Jewish the whole thing is just a mystery to me. I leave it to her, actually, because it's just a great mystery.

I get a fair amount of time between projects, which is great. It takes me awhile to start getting nervous about getting another job again. I don't mind having a lot of down time. I'm pretty lazy. So I really don't mind it. But I'm lucky; I work fairly steadily. I'm lucky that I've managed to do that.

I feel like in a lot of ways I've gotten kind of soft as an actor, not doing stage stuff. In terms of being a better actor, it's really important.

I have a son who's been raised Jewish because his mom is Jewish. I have a whole different set of holidays to celebrate. Everybody is thrown together with their family in such an intense way, opening all of that stuff again. You're cooped up with everybody and forced to exist with them, and you're forced to try to relate to them in this way that's more open. I guess that just doesn't work for a lot of people.

I get tired of myself pretty fast. So I can't imagine other people don't get tired of me.

I wouldn't say that I'm aggressive in going out to find work and stuff like that. I just sort of, if something comes along, and it's something I like, and they want to hire me, I'll do it. I won't just do anything.

I think that deep down all I have been looking for is to be accepted and liked by as many people as possible.