I like to build houses.
— Bill Pullman
It's funny: When I first heard they were thinking of me for the president in 'Independence Day,' I just assumed it was a comedy - I didn't exactly think of myself as leader-of-the-free-world material.
There is something exciting when you see people who are very formal talking with each other, and there is a sense that they have chosen to be that way. There is something masked that is more interesting to me than just people who are intent on displaying their uniqueness or whatever.
That massiveness of bureaucracy at the VA is chronic and has been chronic.
With modern medicine prolonging life no matter what condition you're in, it seems like we're working towards immortality by science.
I don't think I'm repeating anything I've done before, but sometimes I lose track.
I don't have a favorite fruit. There are things that thrill me each turn of the season.
I have always been impressed by the fruit community. There is a Tao of fruit, which is generous. You share what you know, and you give what you can.
'The Last Seduction,' 'Sleepless in Seattle' and 'While You Were Sleeping' did a lot to get me noticed for bigger roles.
I really enjoyed doing Albee's 'The Goat.' It's a powerful piece and a really exciting play to do.
I noticed that in 'The Revenant,' as much as it is a good story of revenge and endurance, there are times that you get to escape with a story like that.
I love that vein which uses sci-fi to address society's problems. It is the same when you have useful nightmares - things morph, and you get to confront issues in your dreams.
I have gotten a number of invitations to be on television shows as 'the dad,' but that was Kryptonite to me. I was like, 'This would be the death of me. I'll be a cesspool of niceness.' It doesn't feed me.
I did 'Malice,' 'Sommersby,' and 'Sleepless in Seattle,' and they're as disparate characters as I've ever played. But somehow, there was that thing - they were all second male leads, so they all didn't get the girl in some weird way.
I always feel like there's some behaviour that we're all capable - we have our inhibitions protecting from indulging in certain appetites or developing certain appetites.
Television tends to be a more difficult medium for me to get my head around sometimes when it comes to certain things I get offered.
A lot of people just ask me about how I can do small budgets and big budgets, but many actors do both. I think the more self-destructive impulse I have is doing so many different characters.
It's astounding to me that in a country where there is an ever-growing divide between rich and poor, that people won't accept the need for regulation on banks and salaries and so on.
It's hard to explain to people how, if you're really capable of providing the right professional work environment, it allows you to get more personal.
I went to school in the 1970s, and there was a lot of physical theater in those days.
I think institutions that are bureaucratic often try to squeeze from the top down, and they don't have good results on the ground level.
We're all part of humanity. And maybe there's something about the worst people, with the most destructive, warped minds, that is just an acceleration of something that is in quite a few of us.
I don't watch TV. I'd probably be a better person if I did, but it makes me anxious.
I'm not a gardener. I don't have the consistency for gardening, and I have barely enough for an orchard. I don't embarrass myself. You have to be there tending and weeding. With orchards, you can go through negligent periods and recover.
I have a pretty good grip on who I am.
I'm often confused with other actors. But the people who know my work don't have that problem.
I've always been a fan of George C. Scott, who was working in movies when I was in college... films like 'Patton' and 'Hospital.' I was really impressed by him, and I had seen him onstage as well in 'Uncle Vanya.' He was a champ to me.
I think Westerns are always so great for clearing out the clutter and the ambiguities, and getting right to the broad strokes of that kind of situation.
Stacy Keach was really fun to work with, and Henry Winkler was very fun.
I've never really been a television watcher, so I never watch comedies.
I've been lucky to have opportunities with David Lynch in 'Lost Highway' and Jennifer Lynch in this movie 'Surveillance,' so I've always boomeranged around a little bit, and no one has caught my foot in the trap yet, but I think if I move fast enough... 'cos I think I got trapped a couple of times.
No one wants to say, 'That's not funny,' when you're working.
I've always wrestled against being typified in one way or another.
I have never forgotten John Candy's generosity. He showed me how to be a gentle leader.
Westerns give people a chance to see wide-open spaces and life before technology took over.
There is a bearing which comes from having a little bit of something withheld. In acting classes, they always say don't reveal 100 percent: it's much more interesting.
It's during wartime that innovations happen.
The military is a discrete entity. Then they come back, and they're such a small percentage of the population, and they can't really - it's hard for them to talk to civilians.
That's how we invaded Iraq, through the fear of an 'evil empire,' and it just makes people feel like bulls with the toreadors - you see red, and you charge.
My interest in theater really began in the '70s when American realism wasn't really in favor. I really dreaded going into a play that had a toaster that worked. I just didn't want to see that.
I planted an orchard when I was 13. The impulse came from wanting to grow my own apples. That and the nursery catalog showed an apple tree with a beautiful girl standing under the fruit. Whether the flavor or the picture that did it, I've been hooked since.
I've seen a lot of actors in a lot of different stages of their careers, and I've seen it come and go. People get a sense of entitlement from it. And that's when it starts getting you in trouble.
I did a lot of Shakespeare touring when I was in college in Montana.
I've been lucky to be a part of many blockbuster movies... in which it's hard to get to that level of being memorable, but I still have fond memories of 'Independence Day,' to be sure. There are also many small ones I've had that give me many fond memories.
I've always liked authors such as Philip K. Dick and Ray Bradbury.
I think about Laura Bush every once in awhile. She is a great supporter of the arts. I did a show at the Eisenhower Theater, and she would make a point of coming backstage. The relationship between Laura and George Bush was always that way where you felt like he was at his best behavior when he was in her company.
Fox was interested in a different title to 'Independence Day.'
You're always carrying something that's interfering. It's like static noise that doesn't have to be there, and you have to school yourself to clean that out.
I'd have to say that it kills me that there's a concern that 'Torchwood' has gone to America to become Americanised.
Sometimes you fall into the niche of being the confidant guy, or the good-looking guy, or being too charactery, or not charactery enough.
