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All Quotes by author - Cuba Gooding, Jr.
" As an actor, when you're winning the moment over, there's a truth to your intention. You might laugh at it or you might cry at it, but I think your visceral reaction to it is a reaction to the truth of the moment. "
Moment
Laugh
Winning
" As an actor you have to bring to the table your creative input. But when a director like Ridley Scott says I want you to do this this way, you know when he gets to the editing room he has a reason for it. It's like watching a masterpiece. "
Want
You
Know
" At one point, I was greenlighting films and scripts that shouldn't have been made based on the fact that they had that stamp of approval of an Academy Award winner. And the good news is I got to learn the real process of filmmaking - directing, storyboarding, writing. "
Award
Process
Good
" Before I was an actor I was a break dancer, one of those street performers you see. I guess my introduction into the professional world of performing was a stint as back up dancer for Lionel Richie and I performed at the closing ceremony at the '84 Olympics. "
Street
You
World
" Don't let people disrespect you. My mom says don't open the door to the devil. Surround yourself with positive people. "
Positive
Yourself
Mom
" I am admiring of my fellow peers, black filmmakers and black actors and actresses. "
Am
Peers
I Am
" I don't choose parts. I choose filmmakers. I'm done trying to make a statement with a character. What happens is, I craft a performance from the beginning to the end of the character. Then I release it to the director, and he interprets what I gave him. "
Beginning
End
Performance
" I feel I'm a hammer to the construction worker that is the filmmaker. "
Feel
I Feel
Construction
" If I told you I was a Republican and you were a Democrat, no matter what I said after that, it would be tempered with your opinions. "
You
Matter
Opinions
" I have had this interesting love affair with London and England, though I don't know how London feels about me. "
Interesting
Love
Me
" I have never made a decision based on race and never will. "
Never
Will
Race
" I'm not a prude. On the set, they called me 'Butt Naked.' "
Me
Set
Naked
" I remember when Heath Ledger talked about playing the Joker... I always used to look out of the side of my eye, going, 'Yeah, actors.' But there really is a darkness when you are playing someone psychotic - you have to go there mentally. "
Remember
Look
Darkness
" I rewind the TV every two minutes. If someone does something interesting, I have to see it over and over again. "
Someone
Interesting
Over
" I speak to my agent about great roles, and he's like, 'They are all going to Will Smith.' "
He
Like
Will
" I think all my characters haunt me. Especially the real-life ones, like Master Chief Carl Brashear, the Tuskagee Airmen. Every time I see a military person, it gives me such a sense of pride but also a sense of responsibility to project excellence when representing them. "
Pride
Time
Excellence
" I think police officers are modern day heroes. I think they protect us. "
Day
Us
Heroes
" I think the biggest compliment an actor can have is if people forget who they're watching and get lost in the character. "
Character
Forget
Lost
" It's a director's job to tell a story and he's very well versed in telling stories with a bit of comedy in them and keeping the pace of the movie right and that's exactly what he did. He was observant of a world he didn't understand but he told a wonderful story. "
Story
Understand
Comedy
" It's the director's job to piece together my performance, his interpretation of my takes, each take, and string them together and make a statement. I'm red paint on a canvas for a painter. "
Paint
Together
Red
" It took me a month to get out of the mindset of O.J. But even now, still, I think it might have done something to my vocal chords. I went to see the doctor, and he was like, 'I don't see anything. You're fine.' But mentally, I might have broke a little bit. "
Doctor
You
Think
" It wears on your soul when you take on the mental state of a dark character. "
Dark
Mental
Soul
" I understand it all. I can write my own ticket for one or two movies. But if they're not the right ones, my ticket gets yanked. I understand that's how it works, and I'm okay with it. "
Own
I Can
Movies
" I've been given that gift of working with Jack Nicholson and James Coburn and certain people who just out of nowhere break into stories - talking about working with Alfred Hitchcock or Kubrick. That's my real reward of my career. "
Reward
Career
People
" I was a fan of football. I was more of a Raiders fan, but I knew who O.J. was. I knew The Juice, and I remember the Hertz commercials with him running to the airport and whatnot. So he was a highbrow celebrity in my eyes. "
Eyes
Remember
Airport
" I was in the wilderness of Hollywood for almost ten years. I was off the studio lists. I wasn't getting the roles offered to actors that hadn't done a third of the roles I had done or had the popularity I had. "
Done
Hollywood
Years
" I worked so much when my first son was born that I missed a lot. "
Missed
Son
First
" Jonathan Lynn is one of the last actors Orsen Welles used in a production. It was wonderful. He's very sharp, very sharp. It's funny I've been asked how weird it was to have a Brit do a church gospel movie. "
Last
Weird
Funny
" My wife and I have been together since 1986. I graduated in '86 and she graduated in '88. We began dating when she was 17. Actually she turned 18 when we started kissing and stuff. "
Dating
Wife
Together
" Now, I have big-money offers on three movies, and I have director approval. That's kind of scary,' he says. 'No directors have been attached. That's a lot of pressure on me. "
Pressure
Kind
Me
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