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" When I was about 12, I came home from middle school and told my parents I wanted to be an actor. My father didn't say it to me, but he told my mom, 'No. I'm not going to allow that. He'll starve to death.' I grew up in a small town in Illinois where being an actor was not something people did. "

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" If I'm playing a bad guy, and I'm playing him evilly - I'm making him evil; I'm being evil because I want the audience to understand that he's bad - or if I have a line that's funny, I do it in a comedic way, that, to me, is a lie. It's dead when I watch it. "

Richard Jenkins

Funny

Lie

" I was an only child, and I spent a lot of time alone. My dad was an only child, too, so we didn't have a big family, and I was really close with both of my parents. Like any kid, I thought I knew more than they did. "

" When I was a kid, I loved horror films. I used to stay up on Saturday night to watch. "

" I don't watch the dailies. You want to just turn in your resignation when you watch the dailies. "

" When I go to the movies, I want to see a human being dealing with their lives. That's all I ask. "

" I'd like to play the whale in 'Moby Dick.' If I keep eating, I may end up getting there. "

" 'My character wouldn't do that.' That was always my favorite thing people say: 'My character wouldn't do that.' I said, 'Well, it says right here in this script your character does that.' "

" Sometimes, I can read a great script, and I don't like the part, or I don't think I'm right for it. I mean, there are times I've read really great parts and think there's so many other actors who could do this better than me. And I just say no to it. "

" Sometimes you read things that people don't even notice in a performance, that you just are moved by or understand that this actor is really living his or her life on the screen. The first time I realized that was when I watched Brando in 'On the Waterfront.' "

" There are so many things that go into a movie that it's amazing that anything gets made anyway. "

Richard Jenkins

Amazing

Anything

" It's like, in movies where you talk to the audience 90 percent of the time, it's - you kind of want to stay away from that stuff. But, you know - but to write exposition brilliantly is hard. "

" I worked with Mike Nichols. First time I worked with Mike Nichols, I just really loved this man. "

" Any time you die in a film, it's not real, so it's all kind of fun. "

" The truth is you only have yourself to offer. And when you come to that realization, it's terrifying, because you think it's probably not enough. "

" A Western would be good. I'd love to do a Western. "

" I understand being alone. I understand not liking it, wishing for something else. "

" Losing a parent makes you realize how temporary everything is - you're looking through someone's whole life in a drawer, and they're very simply gone. "

" But I loved making 'Eat Pray Love,' and I loved working with Julia Roberts. "

" There's nothing like walking onto a Hollywood sound stage. "

" I like relaxed sets. I like to feel that I can make a mistake without feeling like I'm costing somebody money. I like a sense of freedom. I like it when people are open and are willing to let you do your work. "

" I always loved movies. I wanted to be in them! I always saw them and said, 'How do you do that?' It seemed like going to the moon. It was not a rational thought, but that's the only thing I wanted to do. "

" I can't think of a lot of bad directors I've worked with, really. "

" In college, I was teetering on the edge: Do I want to be an actor? Do I not want to be an actor? And then I saw Michael Caine in 'Alfie,' and I thought, 'Wow, that's what I want to do with my life,' even if I knew I'd never reach that level of proficiency. "

" When there is tension, arguments and money problems, it's tough to do your work. Some people thrive on that. I don't. "