Steve Buscemi
When I moved to the East Village in the late seventies, I wanted to be a street performer, so I practiced daily. I never did work up the skills or the courage to perform on the street, though.Collection: Courage
I read the script and decide if a particular character looks fun to play. I look for complexity and a sense of humor. Those are crucial, real things to life.Collection: Humor
The thrill of performing - that's something that hasn't changed for me. That simultaneous joy of creating something and sharing it with an audience - it's the same now as it was then, when it was just my cousins' birthday party.Collection: Birthday
I don't tend to think of these characters as losers. I like the struggles that people have, people who are feeling like they don't fit into society, because I still sort of feel that way.Collection: Society
There's a certain type of character that you can't help but come in contact with growing up and living in Brooklyn and Long Island. A certain mixture of moxie, heart, and a wise guy sense of humor.Collection: Humor
Communication is the key, and it's one thing I had to learn-to talk to the actors. I was so involved with the visual and technical aspects that I would forget about the actors.Collection: Communication
I just like playing interesting, complex, complicated characters. I like films that also have an element of humor.Collection: Humor
Bob Altman had this relaxed but serious attitude. Everybody loved him. I wanted him to adopt me.Collection: Attitude
Growing up, yeah, I had a magic kit with learn tricks and learn card tricks, but I was never... I used to watch whatever magic special was on as a kid, but then, it's not that I lost interest, but to be a magician, you really, it's really hard work. Learning lines is hard enough; learning sleight of hand, that's real practice.
I've always tried to have a healthy take on the characters I play; they are only characters I play.
I didn't really like the aloneness of doing stand-up. The comedians by nature weren't very - I mean, they were sociable, but they hung out in cliques, and it's very hard to get accepted; lots of competition.
Directing television is really hard - it's so fast. You shoot an hour show in seven days.
I've never had a grand plan. I've only just tried to keep open to many different possibilities, have fun and work with people who are passionate about what they do.
Trees Lounge is based on my own life. Both my parents like the movie. My father, of course, thinks it's a masterpiece.
Every day's an adventure when I step out of my door. That's why I usually wear a hat and keep my head low.
My favorite review described me as the cinematic equivalent of junk mail. I don't know what that means, but it sounds like a dig.
In the beginning, it wasn't even a question of deciding I'm going to do independent film and not commercial films - I wasn't being offered any commercial films, and there wasn't an independent scene.
I did stand-up. I loved George Carlin and Steve Martin.
My greatest hope was to get discovered as a comedian and get on a sitcom.
I didn't really like the aloneness of doing stand-up.
My real training as an actor was when I started doing theatre.
The director I had most involvement with was Alex Rockwell. He gave me a lot of responsibility as an actor.
It doesn't matter what part I play, I try and commit myself 100 percent.
It doesn't matter so much where the material comes from, as long as it's good.
All these directors, and I would include the Coen brothers and Quentin, have a very unique vision of what they want. They listen to ideas and make people feel like everyone is making the film.
When I was in pre-production for Trees Lounge, I was hearing the cinematographer talking with the production designer about colours and this and that, and feeling like I was losing control.
It wasn't until my senior year in high school that I started acting.
I was going to buy a van and move to LA so I could secretly pursue acting without any of my friends knowing.
I didn't think I'd ever be able to do movies. That was for serious actors.
I think all comics borrow from each other. Only a few have an original voice, and I wasn't one of them. In the end, I couldn't figure out who to steal from, so I stopped doing it.
I'm terrible at story and structure, but I'm not so bad at writing dialogue.
Anything you write, even if you have to start over, is valuable. I let the story write itself through the characters.
What was frustrating about Armageddon was the time I spent not doing anything. It was a big special effects film, and I wasn't crazy about pretending I was in outer space. It feels ridiculous.
I was very surprised that for a while I could only get cast as straight. It was that way for a few years.
The trend now is to shoot in Canada because it's cheaper, and they don't care what the location is.
With Animal Factory you'd think that because it's mostly interiors, you could shoot it anywhere. So we shot this in Philadelphia, and we had the cooperation of the prison system.
They're not supposed to show prison films in prison. Especially ones that are about escaping.
I talked with Quentin about where the character came from, and he told me Kansas City. I don't know how somebody talks from Kansas City, so I made him from New York.
It doesn't matter to me what the genre is.
I never made a daring rescue, which is the story people want to hear. I did go to my share of fires.
I usually get freaked out if I'm in a situation where a lot of people recognise me at once.
The first movie I had a featured role in was Parting Glances.
I could never have imagined the films I've done and the people I've worked with when I was starting out; I certainly did not have a career path.
I was really young, just playing with puppets a lot and doing all the voices and acting it out - normal kid stuff. But then I'd hear my mother talking about it to her relatives, marveling at it as if it was something unique. And it made me realize, 'Oh, maybe I do have a talent for something.'
I like character-driven stuff. It doesn't matter, the size of the part.
My dad had a temper. I have a temper. Most people I know have a temper. And I think it comes out mostly with your family. I don't think it's unique to the Buscemis, but it's something I've been able to tap into when I play certain roles.
I always find that it's when a script is not detailed, then I have to do more work as an actor.
I never know what I'm going to get. A 'Sopranos' fan is very different from a 'Big Lebowski' fan.
When I was doing stand-up, I was about twenty, and I really think that that's a little too young. I didn't have a whole lot of life experience to draw on.
I'd say that the director I had most involvement with was Alex Rockwell in 'In the Soup'. It was one of my earliest leading roles, and he gave me a lot of responsibility as an actor.