I think more money can be very detrimental to movies and TV because things get solved economically rather than creatively, and that's never a good solution.Collection: Movies
It's amazing what they can do with animation nowadays. It's really beautiful. The 3D stuff is out of hand.Collection: Amazing
There's a thing at the Museum of Natural History in New York, where I live: they have a stairwell where you follow the beginning and the course of this planet, and it's a very long stairwell, and you follow, and you follow, and then you reach the top, and we're, like, half a step on the stairwell - the timeline for us on this planet.Collection: History
Any swagger is just defense. When you're reminded so much of who you are by people - not a fame thing, but with my size, constantly, growing up - you just either curl up in a corner in the dark or you wear it proudly, like armor or something. You can turn it on its head and use it yourself before anybody else gets a chance.Collection: Chance
Women respond to comfort and a sense of humor. I was always able to make them laugh, so that helps a lot.Collection: Humor
I think my mom drove by a nuclear power plant when she was pregnant. But I wouldn't be in 'The Station Agent' if she hadn't.Collection: Mom
My mother was an elementary school teacher for 35 years and taught at the Nixon School in New Jersey. I was raised as a very liberal Democrat, and she was protesting Nixon when he was in office.Collection: Teacher
We, as Americans, at least - I mean, I love my country - but we're so self-righteous sometimes, in terms of, like, our nationality, our country. But we're people from somewhere else; the true 'Americans' are the original peoples. It's funny, but we're a very territorial species.Collection: Funny
'Game of Thrones' is an amazing show, and I have no problem speaking of the virtues of HBO.Collection: Amazing
What I really want is to play the romantic lead and get the girl.Collection: Romantic
I have a need to always make people laugh. I have a desperate need. I love a great sense of humor. The people I sort of surround myself with have that.Collection: Humor
There are a lot of directors out there who are very specific, visual craftsmen, and while I have the utmost respect for that, they don't really communicate with the actors.Collection: Respect
Animals used for food are treated like unfeeling machinery.Collection: Food
I was once part of a Christmas cabaret. I sang 'I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.' I tap-danced. I had a ten-gallon hat. It was quite absurd.Collection: Christmas
It was hard doing scenes with Bobby Cannavale because I would break up laughing because he's so funny.Collection: Funny
I have a friend - not a dwarf - who's an alchemist of sorts. He concocted a men's cologne... He gave me a bottle as a gift. I was thinking we should totally put this on the market. You know how Jessica Simpson and Beyonce have signature perfumes and make a mint? I'm thinking this cologne could be my ticket to fortune.
'Star Wars' or 'The Lord of the Rings' deal with great big Joseph Campbell-style myths, good and evil.
I feel as much of a stud as... I can't come up with a metaphor. That's how lacking in studliness I am.
I like animals, all animals. I wouldn't hurt a cat or a dog - or a chicken or a cow. And I wouldn't ask someone else to hurt them for me. That's why I'm a vegetarian.
I think if actors are successful at one thing, they paint themselves into a corner sometimes, and what's the fun in that?
My favourite superhero? I have a soft spot for Batman, because he doesn't have any super powers - he's just a person. And he's pretty dark.
The reason I like 'Breaking Bad,' which is still probably my favorite show, is Walter White. You watch him transform, and that's so fascinating. And I think. a lot of TV shows that aren't successful, it's because the characters become stagnant.
Each year, billions of animals are subjected to cruelty on factory farms, feed lots, and slaughterhouses. The brutality that these animals endure would be grounds for felony cruelty charges if inflicted upon our cats and dogs.
I don't like people being cautious and tentative and choosing their words carefully around me because I'm a dwarf.
So I won't say I'm lucky. I'm fortunate enough to find or attract very talented people. For some reason I found them, and they found me.
Call me a midget, but just be real. I am all for correct terms, but please don't tiptoe around feelings. Don't be too careful, because that shuts you off from people.
Women on the whole are often not as shallow as men are. They can be, but they cut through things a little more easily than men do in terms of that superficial stuff.
I just think the less you know about an actor, the more serious you'll take them as an actor because they will disappear a little bit.
I was a sullen kid who smoked cigarettes and wore black every day, and I went to a school that was lacrosse players and Izods.
Maybe everyone is a little too reassuring that things are going to be OK to college graduates. It gives them a false sort of security.
Writing is getting killed by too many chefs. Back in the Bogart days, it started with great scripts. You had a writer, and he wrote a script, and that was your movie. I think that's been watered down a bit lately.
I knew David Benioff a bit socially. I knew his wife, Amanda Peet. He's a smart guy, so I always sought him out at dinner parties.
I spend my nights just sitting and reading a book and drinking my tea and walking my dog. That's about as exciting as my life gets.
I love working with the same actors repeatedly. That happens a lot. It's kind of inevitable, especially if you work with the same writers and directors and you start to form a company of actors. You gravitate towards each other.
I feel like life is much greater than a hero or a villain: there's good people that sometimes make mistakes.
It's a shame how a lot of actors use theater as a stepping stone to film and television work; I think it shouldn't be treated that way. Maybe it's narcissism or something. I think we should always go back to it. I try and do a play a year, and I think that's really helped me.
A lot of parts written for people of my size, dwarfs, are either foolish idiots or, like, these sages that are all-knowing, and they're very, sort of, come-to-them-for-answers.
That's one of the things about theater vs. film - with theater, actors have a little more control, and one of the disappointing things about films is that once you're done shooting, anything can happen, you know?