Hollywood's a mecca, but it's not the final answer. You pick up a camera anyplace in the world, you can make a movie.
— Robert Duvall
Hollywood sometimes tends to patronize the interior of the United States. As Horton Foote used to say, the great Texas playwright, that a lot of people from New York don't know what goes on beyond the South Jersey Shore.
A young actor once asked me, What do you do between jobs? I said, Hobbies, hobbies, and more hobbies.
Look, Hollywood's a mecca, but it's not the final answer. You pick up a camera anyplace in the world, you can make a movie.
As long as they keep offering me some good parts and so forth - there are some parts out there that fit me pretty well - I'll keep going for a while.
Sometimes directors will hire you and say, 'Oh, we love your work.' And then they start to tell you how to do it. I say, 'Hey, man, back off. You hired me to do it. Let me do it.'
But I think there are more good young actors now than ever. It's a medium that everyone wants to be connected with - it is such a hip medium going into the 21st century.
But for me, the challenge is how you turn a character into behavior. Once the director says 'action', you just try to live between those two worlds.
When I'm at home in Virginia, I become more hermit-like. I like my own home.
Sometimes you don't prepare much. I mean, when I did 'Lonesome Dove' way back I rode horses day and night for like three or four months, and that got me ready for that.
Some people say, 'Do you have any theories on acting?' And I say, well maybe: I think you can start with zero and end with zero. You don't have to go anywhere, you don't have to go for the result.
I hope I left behind a legacy that people will enjoy. But whatever they want to say, I can't predict.
What drives me is I love my profession. I love to do it.
I try not to look for messages in films.
When I knew nothing, I thought I could do anything.
Too many people think that economics is this subject that should wait until the university level. But it can't wait that long.
Although it wasn't that easy to do, it was wonderful working with John Wayne.
I think there are more good young actors now than ever. It's a medium that everyone wants to be connected with - it is such a hip medium going into the 21st century.
I can't live without a woman. I have to have a woman, have to have a wife.
If you don't have heroes in the beginning, you don't grow.
One thing I like about Argentina, they only cook with salt; that's it.
I'd like to direct again, but that's really hard to get something and raise the money. It's difficult to find just the right thing.
What people don't understand about Sarah Palin is that she is a rancher's wife. From Alberta down to Texas I've known women like that: good common sense, bright and vilified by city people.
I love working in Texas anywhere.
Well, it's like my movie, 'The Apostle.' Some people in the North don't get that movie. They think that, in the South, if you don't shout, you can't play one of those guys.
Some Russian ballet master woman said there's no culture in America, but if you look you can find interesting stuff in this country, don't you think?
You know, Hollywood sometimes tends to patronize the interior of the United States. As Horton Foote used to say, the great Texas playwright, that a lot of people from New York don't know what goes on beyond the South Jersey Shore.
It's like kids playing house: 'You play the father, I'll play the mother.' You know, you dress up, you play, they pay, you go home. It's a game - acting's a game.
Well, I can't live without a woman. I have to have a woman, have to have a wife.
I've always liked country music. It's a certain aspect of America that goes back to the British Isles and the influence is very native to America.
I've always remembered something Sanford Meisner, my acting teacher, told us. When you create a character, it's like making a chair, except instead of making someting out of wood, you make it out of yourself. That's the actor's craft - using yourself to create a character.
I always considered myself as a character actor. I always try to be versatile to show different sides of human experience.
I'm better than Olivier.
Around my own friends, I like to mess around.
I had a wonderful career.
Art is competitive.
Seeing your name on the list for KP or guard duty when you're in the Army is like reading a bad review.
I was fortunate in the last century to be in the two biggest hits film-wise, 'Godfather I' and 'Godfather II,' and 'Lonesome Dove.'
I'm getting good offers, as good as ever sometimes. I just finished a thing with Billy Bob Thornton that was the most unique part I've ever played in my life, in the most unique project.
I am getting some good offers still. Some nice things are coming my way just as they always have, so unless I lose my inspiration or there is too much drool to wipe, I will keep going.
Way, way, way back I played a little bit, but I am definitely not a golfer. You know, it just takes too much time anyway during the course of the day.
The most solitary I ever felt was when I was living in New York. I used to live in Enrico Caruso's old apartment, and I had a special staircase that took me up to the roof. There was nobody up there.
Well, I had a wonderful career.
I can always grow a little bit, and try to do something different. So I'm always looking for what's out there - the potential.
I always figure from the cradle to the grave, we all have our individual journeys, and maybe my journey was a positive one and I accomplished certain things without stepping on too many toes.
I love going to black churches, and I love some of these black preachers. The best preacher I ever saw in my life was a 93-year-old in a black church in Hamilton, Virginia. What a preacher!
I like the good feeling movies.
Stripping away artifice - it's the constant standard I aim for in acting, to approximate life. People talk about being bigger than life - but there's nothing bigger than life.
Everybody likes to win.
I love the smell of juice boxes in the morning.
