I am a normal American.
— Gary Cole
People say you get identified with a role, and you get stereotyped, but I haven't found that to be the case.
Every actor thinks he's underused - unless he's a movie star.
Other than advances in technology and equipment, making a movie is the same as it was when I started, at least. I don't go back to the silent era.
People get the wrong idea. They think because somebody's visible and works to a degree in some kind of consistent way, they just have a pile of choices. And that's not necessarily true. You can always choose not to audition and see what happens. Sometimes that's a benefit. But most things that I do, I meet on, especially films.
It's always appealed to me do to something that is whatever 'steady' means in this business. That's what I've kind of searched for, because, having a family, it's the best situation.
In 1993, I was working at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago.
One of the most fun characters I played on a television series, which didn't last long... was a show called 'American Gothic' that Shaun Cassidy created. I would have loved to have done that show forever. That character was so funny yet demonic. It was really good writing and a really good idea. I loved all the people on the show.
It seems you can ask any friend, any relative, and they'll be able to tell you about someone they know with autism.
Then, at some point, you get identified with certain things.
I was a little nervous coming in mostly because my first scene was with Martin Sheen, who I'm a huge fan of.
I will confess I did none of my own singing. I did all my own costume and makeup, though.
Karl Malden was quite a mentor. He taught me things he had learned from being in front of a camera so long.
I am also a drummer of sorts. I've got an electronic set sitting in my bedroom.
Being able to fantasize for a couple of days at being a rock singer surpassed most things I've done on stage.
You always know when something works it's a result of everything firing on all cylinders.
I miss everything about Chicago, except January and February.
Christopher Walken could literally read a phone book and fill a theater, and it would be interesting to watch. I've often wanted to produce a show and ask him if he'd do that. All week long, he could read the As on Tuesday, the Bs on Wednesday; we'd see how long it would last.
In Washington, there are jobs that have official titles: chief of staff, campaign manager, director of communications. Then there are all these vague and murky headings over people who are just special consultants or advisers. We really don't know what their gig is.
There's a million different ways you can look at a moment.
I'm a huge fan of sports movies.
A lot of times evil - or, in the case of comedy, stupid - is more interesting than the hero.
Even people who aren't engaged on the actual battlefield - the effects of war reach out like tentacles into families, into economies, into the changing geography, into politics. It shakes up everything.
I gave up a long time ago trying to figure out what will happen in an acting career.
'Office Space' I loved doing.
Yes, I've already done a couple of guest voices.
I was initially a leading man, but only on television.
If someone comes up to me, 90 percent of the time it's about Office Space.
You need someone to tell you how to do things like hitting your marks, or driving a car so it looks right or getting out of a car so it doesn't take a million years of screen time.
I just don't eat too much. That's never been my problem.
I still like to listen to the people that I came of age on.
I don't think anyone sets out to do something bad, it's just that it's very difficult.
When you make a movie, it's up to so many things and so many people.
There's only a handful of people who are just purely, inherently funny, and I'm not one of them. I need content and a situation. I don't just walk on the screen, and people go, 'Ha ha ha!' There are people like that, and they can do almost anything. It's the Christopher Walken Rule.
Whatever's in front of you, you do the best you can and let it land where it lands, and then you walk away.
For a stage actor to be there with the words and the creator of the words - it doesn't get much better than that.
As soon as you start figuring out what you're going to do, something will interrupt it.
You never know, when you commit to something, what else could have been. I'm so bored with that concept anymore. 'If only I didn't do this, I could have done this.' It was in front of me, they asked me to do it, and it seemed like good timing.
No matter what era you're looking at - war affects things in so many different ways.
'Fatal Vision' was basically the first thing I did on camera.
When you're in a movie with Will Ferrell, well, it's time to at least sometimes throw the script away. And that character in 'Talladega Nights' I found a lot easier to kind of riff with because I related to it more, those kind of Southern, almost rednecky guys. That's a culture that I'm familiar with, that makes sense for me to spew.
There is no handbook about how a career is going to go.
I grew up with Apocalypse Now and Badlands, so I had a real awe thing going.
I like the fact that this kind of family has been seen in a movie a million times: teenage kids, the family is a bit strained and they don't have enough money, but in the background the guy used to be a Gene Simmons type.
A lot of actors in my age bracket look at being still standing as pretty good.
I messed around in high school, but I pretty much put it away until I did a television show in San Francisco.
I think it had something to do with my love of music, especially rock music.
You can go out in a good movie and look bad as well.
I love going to concerts, so that whole environment is something that intrigues me anyway.
