Texas is so big, and the place where I grew up was so little, and I was such a little thing growing up in the middle of it. I had two choices: I could either spend my life feeling insignificant, or I could look on the life I lived as a microcosm of the universe.
— Sissy Spacek
Living in New York always felt to me like living in the middle of a carnival. It never stopped. There was something very exciting about it.
When I lived in New York City, I loved it so much. But every six months, I had to go home to Texas to remember who I was. Get filled back up.
The human condition is the human condition, and what we try to do is illuminate the human condition.
I don't have any regrets, because I think life is like a creek. It kind of meanders along, and you instinctively do the things you are meant to do. There's no great plan except doing really good scripts, meeting great filmmakers. And I have to have something that I can bring to the role.
It's really nice when the studio is behind what you're doing, because that's often not the case.
It's really about the work - if you are doing it for the right reasons - really to illuminate the human condition.
I write about Texas, New York, California and Virginia, and they're all important places in my repertoire.
Ultimately, you have to work for your own enlightenment - for smarts - or it gets boring.
I need to fill myself up with real life. That's kind of the well I draw from.
It's not seeing myself 40 feet tall on a movie screen - it's the work. That's what thrills me.
I actually never got in a play in school. My teacher said I never learned my lines.
I'm not very big. But I've got a big bark and a lot of heart.
I think my mother's family came on the Mayflower from England - D.A.R., you know.
For me, I never really wanted to be in a 'Sissy Spacek' vehicle. That was not my intention. I got to be the 'Everygirl.'
I connect with just plain old everyday people. Human behavior fascinates me, the people who are the nuts and bolts of this country who help hold up the world.
There have been several television movies, 'Carrie 2,' two musicals! I remember thinking, the first time there was a musical on Broadway, 'Oh my gosh! The people who ordinarily go to the theaters, that's not really the audience.'
One day, it just dawned on me that I'm from Texas, and that's what I am.
My children came along at a perfect time in my life. My career was soaring, and they didn't care who I thought I was. They just wanted to eat. It brought me down to earth.
There is a long tradition of pungent living in the South. It was wonderful to have that imprinted on me so early in life. I already had my core when I left my little town in Texas.
I wouldn't sell those New York actors short.
Film is an amazing art form, but so is life. When your career and your life can work together, and one can support the other, it's just great.
I'm a binge-watcher!
I think the movie business, you meet people, and you work intensely with them, and you have these relationships - there's an intimacy to it and a familiarity to the relationship because you're having to let go of all your barriers so you can let people in and work with them.
New York gets under your skin, and I think once you've fallen in love with New York, you take that with you. I love New York.
I only learn from the people I work with.
There's nothing like not washing your teeth or washing your face or brushing your teeth in the morning.
That was the magical thing about the Seventies: artists ruled. Because films were relatively low-budget, nobody cared. We could just go off and work.
Music is my thing. In fact, that's what I wanted to do. I thought of myself as a musician. I had never thought about acting.
I like horseback riding. I like to hike. I play guitar and sing.
Just about every town in Texas has a beauty pageant. Ours was called The Dogwood Fiesta. I was in one of those. I played the guitar and sang - and lost.
The important thing is to be part of a good project with good, talented people.
I love the women I've played.
It's a whole other way of working when you work in films: You know exactly the arc of your character.
There are stories you can tell on TV that can't be told in movies anymore.
My roots allow me to let go of the fear of failure.
I think people in the north and the south and the east and the west, anywhere they come from, are just as interesting, and they're humans. They have the same realm of emotions that we all have. But I'm just more drawn to the Southern character and the different types, and Southern literature is so lyrical and so wonderful.
There's something about Southern characters.
Everybody who loves me calls me Sissy, so I guess that's just who I am. When I'm 80, they'll still be calling me Sissy. Oh, well, I guess there are worse things.
You want to live your life and live it just as fully and as deeply as you can. That's your deep well of reserve. That's where you get all your - the fodder for your work.
My daughter is far more talented than me in the songwriting department - far more.
I don't like to do something just to prove I can do it.
It's difficult to just let go of a character. Especially after you've been preparing and researching for weeks.
I'm a fool for a brilliant filmmaker. And for someone who wants to try new things.
Some families can experience terrible tragedy and deal with it, and others not. I find those things fascinating.
For a while, I just sang at a steakhouse. I would go from table to table and really just survived on tips.
My father's family is German and Czech.
I go where the good work is being done.
I'm drawn to ordinary people who find themselves in extraordinary circumstances, which is a big part of the human condition.
I think that no human gets away unscathed in this old life. We've all experienced loss and grief and pain and tragedy.
