As an actor, you see a sliver of how the show is made, but to see the actual writing process and the re-writing process and the casting process and art direction and set design - all of this is happening in a very intense period.
— John Slattery
When I was coming up, everybody wanted to be Tom Hanks. There was always Robert De Niro and Al Pacino - they were the heavily dramatic stuff. I always had a foot in both camps. The hardest thing was to resist the advice to be like someone else. It took me a while to figure that out.
You put a movie star or a bunch of movie stars in a movie, it doesn't mean people are gonna go see it. It's been proven time and time again.
I've dyed my hair a million times and it looks terrible, always. It just looks fake. And it doesn't make me look that much younger.
And I don't want to jump out of an airplane - I've done that.
When I was growing up, the top movies dealt with grown-up, complex emotions.
I've never directed anything before 'Mad Men,' so I don't feel I have any advice for the other directors.
Characters can become boring. That's what's tricky about television. It goes on and on - you're playing this same character for five seasons and it gets easy to fall into just walking on the set and assuming you know how to play a scene.
I like to try the scene over and over, but given the confines of television, I don't have that option.
I think the ongoing discussion of the world of advertising is, 'Where is the soul in advertising?'
On 'Mad Men,' I have a bit of an advantage because I know who gets better as they repeat a scene and who's best at the beginning.
Let's face it, making movies is all risk. Most of the time, batting average-wise, the reward does not outweigh the risk.
I've done a lot of pilots. A lot of shows. You're young and you do a job just because you know someone gave you a job.
I think the moments that are difficult for anybody are when you see what your life could be, if only you had the courage to take the steps needed.
Memories are just stories we tell ourselves about our past; and that's often why they don't match when we've shared the same experiences with someone.
The rule of surfing is never tell anyone where you go.
Viewers can hate a character and at the same time can't take their eyes off of him.
I think I gravitate towards people who express themselves in a simple and funny way.
I have met Tom Hanks. Several times. And he's been very nice.
You learn pretty quickly: if you fall in love with your edit, you're bound to be heartbroken because it will all be re-cut.
I guess, you make a big studio film, you spend a lot of money on it and you hope people go see it. It's really risky.
For some reason surfing... I'm not scared of the ocean so the risk doesn't seem as great to me.
My wife tells me I need to learn to be more patient with my son.
When I first started, I was kind of surprised that anyone would ever hire me at all. So I took everything that I was offered.
I was a horrible limo driver: I ran out of gas with passengers in the back and I used to get lost on a regular basis.
But the path you end up on means that you have to close a lot of doors, too.
I don't have to worry about how my movies sell because I'm not the guy in front.
