John C. Reilly famous quotes

A lot of times, good improv is when both people, or however many people are in the scene, really have no idea what the next thing you're going to say is.
-- John C. Reilly

#Ideas #People #Next

The less people know about me in reality, the more they can accept of me as a character.
-- John C. Reilly

#Character #Reality #People

There is something about the water - that solitary kind of peaceful feeling. You're on earth but not quite.
-- John C. Reilly

#Love #Peace #Water

Actors in general are pretty good bullshit artists; we're good at just chewing the fat, interacting with people. So we're good ambassadors for movies.
-- John C. Reilly

#Artist #People #Bullshit

I always get a headache the first time I watch a movie I'm in. Because you're staring at the screen so hard, your brain is doing all this work trying to put things in context of what the day-to-day experience of making it was. And the timeline that's in your head of when it was made, and on what day, how you felt. And then you're also trying to grasp what it's been edited into.
-- John C. Reilly

#Brain #Trying #Watches

It's a mystery why certain people find certain things funny.
-- John C. Reilly

#People #Mystery #Certain

I get the greatest joy from just doing anything, being an actor. Doing music, and doing what I love to do. I don't make a huge distinction between comedy and drama. I think the whole point is just trying to be as honest, from moment to moment, as you can be. If you're honest about the material, and the material is ridiculous, then you're in a comedy.
-- John C. Reilly

#Drama #Thinking #Joy

[Country Music] is the final destination for many punk rockers [...] Rockabilly is the mid-point and then [they] end up at Country [...] There's purity to that music and I think that appeals to a lot of punk rock people - the precision, the purity, and the directness of Country Music.
-- John C. Reilly

#Country #Thinking #People

I view my strongest competition as myself. You're always trying to top yourself, rather than worrying about what other people are doing.
-- John C. Reilly

#Views #People #Worry

I was never a very dependable employee for anything. Perfect for the actor's life!
-- John C. Reilly

#Perfect #Actors #Employee

I'm a big fan of the 'Harry Potter' movies and 'The Lord of the Rings' films.
-- John C. Reilly

#Fans #Potters #Film

If people want to see me in comedies, that's fine with me.
-- John C. Reilly

#People #Want #Comedy

My family are all storytellers, and I think I inherited a lot more of that gene than other people in my family. I guess I was fun to have around.
-- John C. Reilly

#Fun #Thinking #People

People say, 'Don't you get tired of people coming up to you all the time?' But what's wrong with strangers saying they love you?
-- John C. Reilly

#Love You #Tired #People

Surprising people is the key to career longevity for someone like me.
-- John C. Reilly

#Keys #Careers #People

There's so much joy in doing comedy work, and that's one of the reasons I like to do it - because it's just a hilarious day at work.
-- John C. Reilly

#Joy #Comedy #Reason

If you're really being honest with yourself when you're acting, part of it is touching the real you. You can only separate yourself so much from the character. Those vulnerable moments do touch me.
-- John C. Reilly

#Real #Character #Touching

In Chicago it's really a case of the play's the thing - people are just so happy to be acting, you know? We were all actors - not like in New York or Los Angeles, where everyone says they are actors but they are actually waiting tables and hustling for spots in commercials.
-- John C. Reilly

#New York #Play #People

I try to take things that challenge me either physically or mentally, or I have to learn a new skill.
-- John C. Reilly

#Skills #Challenges #Trying

I really enjoy my time off. If I'm going to go to work, it has to be something I really believe in, or else it's totally tedious.
-- John C. Reilly

#Believe #Enjoy #Working It

I love that people can't place me. They don't know my name. That's 'mission accomplished' in my world.
-- John C. Reilly

#Names #People #World

God forbid you got seasick because there was no option to go back. So that really did force us to be a group.
-- John C. Reilly

#Groups #Force

An actor's life is like a series of - it's like the first day of school happening over and over again.
-- John C. Reilly

#School #Life Is Like #Actors

A script is like a theory of a movie.
-- John C. Reilly

#Scripts #Theory

Hey, I'm just trying to become the Michael Caine/Gene Hackman of my generation.
-- John C. Reilly

#Trying #Generations #Hey

Hollywood is an illusion. These intense workplaces, with very close relationships, a few months at a time - and then it ends.
-- John C. Reilly

#Months #Hollywood #Workplace

I don't mind doing scripted material. It's actually kind of a relief, because improvising is a little bit like screenwriting on your feet.
-- John C. Reilly

#Feet #Mind #Relief

I feel like a teenager myself, so I appreciate it when the kids think you're all right.
-- John C. Reilly

#Teenager #Kids #Thinking

I like people who are able to keep pushing themselves and challenging themselves even after great success.
-- John C. Reilly

#People #Challenges #Able

I like how pure the expression is in music. You can go straight to the heart of an audience rather than through their brain.
-- John C. Reilly

#Heart #Expression #Brain

Being unprepared makes me nervous. I'm old-fashioned show folk.
-- John C. Reilly

#Nervous #Old Fashioned #Shows

I like being employed, you know. That's my favorite kind of acting.
-- John C. Reilly

#Acting #Kind #My Favorite

I kinda taught myself how to play guitar, and I still play to this day. It's become a pretty big part of my life.
-- John C. Reilly

#Guitar #Play #Taught

I give as much as I can, and it's up to someone else to turn it into a movie. Good luck to you!
-- John C. Reilly

#Good Luck #Giving #Luck

I was more like a middle child. My youngest brother was the baby, so he got all the attention that the baby gets. And my older brothers were getting into so much trouble that I was left in the middle, doing plays. I was up to no good, but my mother didn't know it!
-- John C. Reilly

#Mother #Baby #Brother

I would love to do a western. I would love to play an explorer. That is always something that has really captured my imagination since I was a kid, like James Cook or Magellan or Earnest Shackleton.
-- John C. Reilly

#Kids #Play #Imagination

I'm not a big fan of kids' movies that have this knowing snarkiness to them or this post-modern take on storytelling. I think that sails right over the heads of most kids. There's something to be said for a well-told fairy tale. There's a reason that these mythic stories stay with us.
-- John C. Reilly

#Kids #Thinking #Knowing

I've never been someone who's been given work because of the way I look or because I have some box office appeal. I get work because people know I'm swinging as hard as I can, trying to connect, giving it my level best. I have a face for radio, but here I am doing what I do.
-- John C. Reilly

#Office #People #Giving

I was a solid C student because I was doing so many plays. I was a drama nerd, but I was also kind of a Zelig-like character; I would shift between different groups of people. But the people I spent most of my time with were either chorus or swing choir or the drama nerds.
-- John C. Reilly

#Drama #Character #Play

I went to an all-boys Catholic school, and not only were we not allowed to wear pajamas, we had to wear dress shirts, dress pants, a tie, dress shoes... they stopped making us wear blazers, like, two years before I started there, so pajamas... you wouldn't even get in the front door wearing pajamas at my school.
-- John C. Reilly

#School #Boys #Years

When I first joined SAG, there was another John Reilly. My dad was John Reilly, too, but growing up I was John John. Nobody in life calls me John C. It's more like, 'Hey you, Step Brother!'
-- John C. Reilly

#Brother #Growing Up #Dad

I swear and it comes off a little angry, no matter how funny I'm trying to do it. If I use certain words with a certain intensity, it's like 'Whoa whoa whoa, buddy buddy!'
-- John C. Reilly

#Trying #Use #Littles

You know, the truth is that us actors would all like to believe we re-invent the wheel, every time we play a character. But, we're human beings and our instruments are not violins, they are our bodies and our consciousness and our collective life experience.
-- John C. Reilly

#Believe #Character #Play

You were there all day long, 12 hours a day. So there was none of this, 'I'm going back to my trailer, my trailer's bigger than your trailer,' that kind of Hollywood nonsense.
-- John C. Reilly

#Long #Hollywood #Kind

One of the unique things is that whether we were out at sea or in the middle of the water tank, a lot of times you just couldn't leave. Especially when we were out at sea.
-- John C. Reilly

#Unique #Sea #Water

Really if you look at my filmography, there's something for everyone!
-- John C. Reilly

#Looks

I was a founding member of the 'Dungeons and Dragons' club at my high school. I was in chorus, I was in swing choir. I was an outcast but I was an outcast among a group of outcasts.
-- John C. Reilly

#School #Swings #Dragons

I'm dating myself by saying this, but I was the test audience for 'Space Invaders.' I remember when that was the first game that wasn't a pinball game. I spent a lot of money on 'Space Invaders,' in the form of quarters, of course.
-- John C. Reilly

#Space #Games #Dating

I don't really get off on the anonymous love of strangers, which I think a lot of actors do. They're lacking something in their own personal lives, so they want the adoration of autographs and all that stuff.
-- John C. Reilly

#Thinking #Stuff #Actors

I grew up listening to a lot of player-piano music in my house and a lot of old Tin Pan Alley songs and American standards. My dad listened to a lot of traditional Irish music and I grew up doing musical theater. So most of the music I was exposed to as a kid was pre-rock n' roll.
-- John C. Reilly

#Song #Dad #Kids

I know I'm not some matinee idol, but I think we're sold this bill of goods by the media, which says that only the most beautiful and dashing people can become movie stars. So when someone like me sneaks in, they have to redo the calculations.
-- John C. Reilly

#Beautiful #Stars #Thinking

I like working. I wish I could say I made a deliberate choice to comedy, but it's just what came my way. It's what the studios wanted to make. Some of my friends were doing it, like Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, and they offered me 'Talladega Nights.' It's just nice work if you can get it. It's a joyful day at work, making your friends laugh.
-- John C. Reilly

#Nice #Night #Laughing

I listen to a lot of Chicago blues, I suppose. It reminds me of growing up, I guess. But I'm also obsessed by close-harmony groups. Actually, I'm fascinated particularly by brother duos, how they blend together. The Everly Brothers, the Stanley Brothers, The McQuarrys. There's something inherently magical about harmony.
-- John C. Reilly

#Brother #Growing Up #Together

I love card games, and I've always loved board games and stuff like that as a kid, and I think it's that part of your brain that's engaged in con movies. It's like this 'Who's outsmarting whom?'
-- John C. Reilly

#Kids #Thinking #Games

Whatever the reasons that I turn things down, I'm always happy when there's a good result, and I can enjoy it as a movie, you know? I don't feel like, 'Oh man, that was really good. I should have done it.' You have to make the decisions you have to make, whether it has to do with your family or repeating a character or whatever it is.
-- John C. Reilly

#Character #Men #Decision

One of the reasons people find me a believable actor is that I don't seem like one of the gods from Olympus. I seem like someone who was lucky enough to be let into Olympus.
-- John C. Reilly

#People #Lucky #Olympus

From the first time I did a movie, people have said, 'Oh, it's all going to change now.' And it would change, but very incrementally. I think I prefer that to some big explosion of fame all of the sudden.
-- John C. Reilly

#Thinking #People #Firsts

For a long time, it was like I was part of some special forces unit: I'd land, meet everyone, five minutes later I'd have to do some amazing work, then - boom! - I'm out again. You know, playing supporting parts takes courage.
-- John C. Reilly

#Land #Long #Special

Being a father has fulfilled me in parts of my life that sustain me. It gives me a comfort and patience. All actors have this hole inside that they're trying to fill by performing. I'm anxious to keep creating, but I'm not so desperate any more because I have the love and support of my kids and wife.
-- John C. Reilly

#Father #Kids #Creating

Animation is a great way to work. No early morning call times, no make-up chair. In live action ,you're always fighting the clock; the sun is always going down too soon.
-- John C. Reilly

#Morning #Fighting #Way

Young people can be annoying, let's face it. But they can also be really refreshing to be around and full of enthusiasm.
-- John C. Reilly

#People #Enthusiasm #Faces

Honestly, to tell you the truth, being trapped in any video game sounds like a living nightmare to me. In most video games, the point is it's a fight for survival, so I think it would be a terrifying place to live.
-- John C. Reilly

#Fighting #Thinking #Games

The truth is that filmmaking is not really an actor's medium; it's really a director's medium, so all I can really control is the character that I'm playing. So I try to look for characters that are interesting and engaging and different than what I've done before and hopefully it becomes a good movie.
-- John C. Reilly

#Character #Interesting #Good Movie

The thing I tried to remember when I was younger was 'Do something that's at least as good, if not better, than the last thing you did.' So I started with Brian De Palma and Sean Penn. I had a pretty high bar to start with.
-- John C. Reilly

#Bars #Lasts #Remember

That's one of the difficult things of being an actor that I'm still not used to. You have to go, you have to show up at these places where you know nobody, and sometimes with really impressive, high stakes people like Roman Polanski.
-- John C. Reilly

#People #Actors #Sometimes

I always felt really guilty if I spent too much time playing video games. It's a colossal waste of time. And I can't say it's a very satisfying feeling at the end of the day, if you've spent eight hours playing a video game; you just end up feeling kind of spent, and used.
-- John C. Reilly

#Games #Eight #Feelings

Most boys' first hero is their father. That was definitely true of my dad. He was a proud Irish American and he taught me a lot about ethics and responsibility. He also introduced me to a lot of wonderful folk music.
-- John C. Reilly

#Dad #Father #Hero

Just look around, in life, there's people who want to date people who look like themselves, and there are people who are just looking for a good fit. And a lot of times, a good fit is someone different than yourself. I'm not one to get too hung up on outside appearances. I find people attractive for more subtle reasons than just the way they look.
-- John C. Reilly

#People #Want #Way

I am one of those people who is not very patient in the makeup chair. I have been offered movies like 'Planet of the Apes' and stuff like 'The Grinch Who Stole Christmas' and I turned them down.
-- John C. Reilly

#Makeup #People #Stuff

I considered a lot of different jobs as a kid. I thought about becoming a priest or a lawyer. My father had a big linen-supply business and I considered working for him. What dawned on me was: 'If I'm an actor, I get to do the fun parts of every job!' Without having to go to four years of law school.
-- John C. Reilly

#Jobs #Fun #Father

I come from a pretty working-class neighborhood in Chicago. Hard work was just expected of you. It wasn't some noble thing you did; it was a prerequisite. It's what a man did. You get up, you put on your boots, and you work hard. We've lost a lot of that, I'm afraid.
-- John C. Reilly

#Hard Work #Men #Class

This is real human drama, we're not creating some amusement park ride for the summer. Even though the movie is really exciting to watch, it's got a real pathos behind it.
-- John C. Reilly

#Summer #Drama #Real