Canadian Actor Quotations

In many ways, I think that, while we've been remarkably violent in our media, there's been a real schizophrenia. In private, on the Internet, and on public-affairs shows or talk radio, we're way more explicit than we've ever been.

The reason they call it 'golf' is that all the other 4 letter words were used up.

I've always been interesting in the lighting aspect and always listened to what they were saying.

No, Arrested Development was such an amazing experience in every way, and you know it was very unique in that it was a show that received a lot of critical acclaim, and yet we didn't ever achieve the ratings that we wanted.

Our first scene is sort of a reunion between the X-Men characters, which establishes everyone's relationship to one another, sort of like a recap for all those who have forgotten since the last movie.

What we see is what they're trying to sell us. It's not true nostalgic as much as it is repeating old material because it's less expensive than new material.

Sometimes his methods are questionable, and even his morals are questionable, but his intention is always to protect Sydney. So in that way I think he's a good parent.

You know, grieve your wife, this is an impulsive thing and you have no idea the kind of trouble you're getting yourself into it. And of course he doesn't listen to me and he adopts this child.

I never did smoke that much pot; never was a big pothead.

We are a people who can bring about miracles if united.

If you're expecting an intellectual film, then you will be disappointed.

It makes you realise that people are the same wherever you go.

And we... right from moment one, we were always kinda up against the wall a little bit when it came to the future of the show. There were always rumors.

I was thinking about doing another film at the same time, which was the sequel to Basic Instinct and I just had a feeling that wasn't going to happen. You know, I just kind of read the writing on the wall.

Even if we encounter some shameful events in the past, we shouldn't avoid or hide them.

There will always be another group of kids going to college, drinking beer, and discovering that movie. Many of them have never even heard of SCTV.

It basically comes down to that word: Love. I guess that's what it's all about.

The part of Mike Wallace drew me to the movie because I thought, what an outrageous part to play.

It's about these people who are inextricably together for whatever reasons, and they happen to be in the spy world. It's about relationships, and the bottom line is, that's why you care.

Look, I get it; you come home, you work hard, and you turn on your TV... You kind of want to escape a little bit and be taken away by something. Our show required you to pay attention, and if that's not what you wanted to do, then it wasn't going to be for you, and that's OK.

You have a little bit of talent, a certain amount of good fortune and a lot of hard work in pursuit of whatever truth you can find in it, and if you are really lucky, a terrific partner and I have that and those four things worked out for me.

Even at Westchester High in West LA, I was class clown.

It was sort of his 'Brando' moment - his very 'method' moment. He just absorbed it and continued on.

When they discover I have a green card there may be some problems.

The day I showed up to South Carolina to work, I was with my kid and my ex and our dog and Kirk was hanging with this weird guy and I kind of defined the two of them by his friend and made a vow to avoid him.

You know that was much more of a kind of cameo, I love the movie, I love the story, I love Johnny as a fun little role but it was more of a cameo, not anywhere near as developed as this role.

They realized I was alive again, even though I was playing an old, dying sop.

Ultimately, it has been a struggle- but I was in Minneapolis and Austin a couple of weeks ago, sitting in theaters with complete strangers watching this weird movie that Kirk and I thought up and I was excited to be making film.

When you have a performer as talented as Bill Murray or as Harold, that can write as well as they can perform, you can do a final draft on the set if you think of it that way.

Did I get jiggy with Will? I would have to say no! Did I have fun with Will? I would have to say yeah! But you know, I did not jig with the man, if you know what I'm saying!

I've spent so much time the last seven, eight years in Los Angeles, away from my family, away from my friends, away from the city that is my favourite place to be and I just want to come here and have a proper life.

And I think that at a certain point, after all the time and all the conjecture and everything that had kind of gone on surrounding this show, I think that Mitch just felt like it was time to let it go. It was best for the show.

I found the writing arena to be much less competitive.

I got a lot of flak for having Kirk as the lead because they all claimed it was a much harder sell, but no one else could have done that part for many reasons.

I make myself pizza if it comes down to that drastic measurement.

I think Ian McKellen made it all happen, because he used to throw dinner parties and invite everyone over.

But a year before that, I was starting to drink beer on the set of the film Lucas (1986).

I did put on weight for the last half of the film, but the Ferris wheel scene was shot with a harness on me so that if I fell I wouldn't fall all the way.

But you can't exercise and be high. It's impossible.

I would definitely stay in the business, be behind the camera maybe.

If you do one good thing, that doesn't define you either. Being around the kids in the juvenile center, they were engaging, they made us laugh but they were there for doing something terrible.

But no, I love acting, it's a wonderful job.

It doesn't get more iconic than Terry Fox.

I really enjoy the people. I find them to be better educated and wittier.

Joe Wright called me and I also had some trepidation along those lines but he said no, it would work. He had a very clear and specific idea of what he wanted to do.

But since day one, we've always been kinda up against it. So at the end, it's not surprising that we were kind of led along for so many months and didn't know what the fate of the show was gonna be. It was... in a weird way, just kind of that was the way it's always been.

Um, you know, they have every right to feel the way they do and things are great with me, as you see, I'm very, good shape now and on the ball. Things are happening.

I don't think a show's ever changed networks in the middle of the season before, but it was cool because they gave us those extra couple years of life that was necessary to get us to syndication.

Yeah, I'd done a bunch of pilots. Some that had gone for a while. One that went for 13 episodes. But I had never been on a show that had lasted more than that.

You have to find something there that relates to the characters and reality on some level.

So it wasn't actually that bad, it took a couple of weeks to sort of get used to uh, you know, standing around and pretending to have ice shoot out of your hand, but once you got used to that it uh, it was actually not that hard.

I remember the first reading of the script we had and everybody was sitting around the table. I was very impressed with the level of acting that was in the room, particularly with Jennifer who has so much responsibility.

Maybe once in a while, you know, after a hard day of shooting or something like that, I'd kick back.

I find out more about Jack every week. Essentially, I'm the same character, but I'm having more fun this season because I'm doing more aliases, you know. I like the surprise of not knowing.

I mean, if you didn't get it or if you didn't feel like you enjoyed it, sometimes that experience can change.

It changed my life in a lot of ways - before I got that role I was just going from job to job, not really having enough money to be able to do what I wanted to do.

What other people think about me is not my business.

The crew loves working on the show, even though we have to work really hard. There's nobody in the show that's difficult. We really have a great group.

My parents not only did it for a living, but they were really good at it.

I'm a meathead. I can't help it, man. You've got smart people and you've got dumb people. I just happen to be dumb.

No. Maceo played sax, didn't he, well they used to sit in.

There's a confidence that comes from youth and not knowing better. But there comes a point, as an actor, when you do know better, and that is when the fear starts.

I know, because I tried all sorts of ways of being in character, and the best way is to be totally straight.

I'm glad I have an outlet. I don't think I would put my aggression elsewhere, but working on the projects I have worked on, you tend to benefit personally from trying to wrap your head around the way other people look at the world.

They just wanted to show the entertainment world that we're vulnerable.

It was comical because you're at a firing range, all these people are so seriously shooting their little guns.

Tracy is more a help to me than I am to her.

When we were producing the Great White North comedy album, my experience in radio told me I needed two singles in order to get enough airplay.

With network shows, writers can be so protective of every syllable.

Ultimately, I think it's just going to get you that exposure, get you in that door, get you that recognition that will hopefully get you opportunities.

So I think at the start of the 3rd year, that's when the character became sort of more like myself than it was about the original interpretation.

Oh yeah, I'm about to host the Genies, which are the Canadian Academy Awards.

Meanwhile, I had planned to go west and get a teaching job, or do that along with some work in Hollywood, such as television or film.

My first one was called How Men Have Babies which is the pregnant father's survival guide and this will be about the first time your kid does things.

Of course it's difficult to turn anything down when Mike Nichols calls you personally.

Obviously I think Vancouver definitely enjoyed our time there, a lot of money was brought into the city, and it was just exciting.

Right now I'm looking for the next thing, I'm taking my time finding something that really fits for me, I want to try something different from X-Men.

I was stuck in the benefits of being a known comedian.

I have been very impressed to see how Jennifer has stepped into this role and taken it to another level and I love working with her.

I don't feel like I would be a good mentor. I don't know what I have to offer in that respect. I do this for pretty selfish reasons.

I'd done a few jobs, but not much, and I'd come from a family that exercises caution when it comes to anything to do with job security.

I'd been living in the tunnel for about three months before the idea came up about making the film and really became good friends with the people.

I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God's business.

I have so much respect for him. He really just does what his heart is telling him to do. He was amazing to work with and really just a brilliant guy.

I find it exhilarating to pick up the script on my front porch and read it for the first time and see what the story is all about.

Here's the thing: I did one episode of Deep Space Nine, and I loved everybody that I worked with. People couldn't have been kinder... But I had a really, really difficult time with the prosthetics.

Here's probably a short answer - I never feel in this piece that I'm stepping out and being Andrea Martin. I always feel like I'm Golde, so whatever Golde would do within those realms, that's what I would do.

Just recently up in Utah, some guy got 55 years for selling an ounce of pot to an undercover agent.

I think theatre in L.A. is really risk.

I think that one of benefits of being on a critically acclaimed show is that people have an understanding that maybe you can act.

I think that I recall the nostalgic '50s: the start of early television and rock-and-roll, and I think everything seemed to get very generic. Not much has changed.

L.A. to me is not really an attractive place.

I went over there to get a classical training and discovered that Canadians, because they are British subjects, are able to work without a permit.

I think the writing on the wall is definitely there this year that this is probably our last year.

Rita got the best of us. We took quite a beating. It's going to take a while to come back from this.

My son will have a fairly stable future. Not one where the schoolyard talk is whose father grossed $8 million on his last picture.

My theory about Jack is that he's not a very good parent.

My M.O. over the years is that I make things better, where people give me that freedom.

I worked building furniture for the film that was really used. I worked with a man named Walter Smith, and we worked together for like two months.

I was very claustrophobic, and I couldn't hear, and it was enormously challenging. And that's why, frankly, I never did it again.