William H. Macy famous quotes

Shameless is a rough show, and it’s not for everyone, but it’s also beautiful.
-- William H. Macy

#Beautiful #Shameless #Rough

We always want to see people strive and see the human spirit triumph against adversity. That's what it's all about because that's what we're doing. We're trying to triumph in our lives.
-- William H. Macy

#Adversity #People #Trying

I'll tell you this about the Oscars - they're real.
-- William H. Macy

#Real #Oscars

We, in America, are so screwed up when it comes to sex. That's all we can see.
-- William H. Macy

#Sex #America #Screwed Up

I was a dog in a past life. Really. I'll be walking down the street and dogs will do a sort of double take. Like, Hey, I know him.
-- William H. Macy

#Dog #Past #Pet

It was my first impulse, but I chose to play the priest as a true believer who was an absolute man of faith that absolutely supports the church.
-- William H. Macy

#Men #Play #Support

You can skim those stage directions and go right to the dialogue. You can almost read the movie in the same amount of time it will take you to see the movie.
-- William H. Macy

#Stage #Dialogue

Writers love to write those idiotic, long stage directions, and some of them worse than others. They have nothing to do with the movie. They're just jerking around.
-- William H. Macy

#Writing #Long #Stage

It sure is boring to be around people who are in character all the time. I always find it's closer to mental illness than acting excellence.
-- William H. Macy

#Character #People #Excellence

The character and the actor in a long-running series slowly become one. I think there must be funny stories about actors who, in the pilot for a TV series, did some weird thing with their eyes, or some speech impediment or something, and the next thing you know, it's eight years later, and they're still doing that freaking gag.
-- William H. Macy

#Running #Character #Eye

I've always felt it's the directors purview to say what; it's the actor's purview to say how. It's not good for an actor to have the big picture in mind - it bollocks you up. An actor's purview is the tiny little... We measure our performance in seconds.
-- William H. Macy

#Mind #Actors #Littles

I've written a lot of scripts that someone else directed, and it's absolutely vital that, if I'm gonna act in it, then I have to take off the writer hat and let the director direct.
-- William H. Macy

#Scripts #Hats #Directors

I don't watch rushes. My whole thing is to try to stay in the moment with the other actor, and to let it all hang. I'm not sure I'm right on that, though.
-- William H. Macy

#Trying #Actors #Watches

Anyway, I try to be a good guy. I try to tell the truth, but I'm not religious.
-- William H. Macy

#Religious #Guy #Trying

I'm not religious. It's an issue, 'cause I've got two little kids, and I feel you can't grow up without knowledge of religion.
-- William H. Macy

#Religious #Growing Up #Kids

I do love comedy, but I'm not brave enough to tackle a script whose goal is to make you laugh. That's tough. The ones that can do it, I tip my hat off to them, but I don't have that kind of humor or mind.
-- William H. Macy

#Goal #Laughing #Brave

I love metaphor the way some people love junk food.
-- William H. Macy

#People #Way #Junk

Before I made it big I worked as a dishwasher, washing dishes in this place called Dishwasher House where people could just come in and do whatever they wanted to the dishes and we had to clean them with our hands till they bled. A lot of struggling actors worked there-Downey Jr., Joaquin Phoenix, Damon Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Keenen Ivory Wayans-and we actually all kind of wish we still did.
-- William H. Macy

#Struggle #Hands #Phoenix

One's complete sentences are attempts, as often as not, to complete an incomplete self with words.
-- William H. Macy

#Self #Incomplete #Sentences

Everyone hooks up with George Clooney. He's a genuinely cool guy. He's using his powers for good.
-- William H. Macy

#Guy #Hook #Cool Guy

Ninety percent of the preparation we do as actors is just jive. It doesn't do anything.
-- William H. Macy

#Preparation #Actors #Ninety

Oh yeah, that's the Holy Grail, Pirates of the Caribbean. Johnny Depp, he's the real deal, isn't he? He doesn't get the girl, and he doesn't care.
-- William H. Macy

#Girl #Real #Pirate

Directors work 10 times harder than anyone else. Get paid a quarter.
-- William H. Macy

#Directors #Quarters #Harder

I got an agent. He said, what do you wanna do, and I said, I want an Oscar nomination. That's your job, that's what I'm paying you for. And I got it.
-- William H. Macy

#Jobs #Want #Oscars

A favorite cast? Lisa Kudrow, Anthony Hopkins, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, and my wife.
-- William H. Macy

#Wife #Genes #Casts

Stephen King writes a lot of things that are really charming and quirky, and that are more ironic than horror.
-- William H. Macy

#Kings #Writing #Ironic

That red carpet has to be felt to be believed.
-- William H. Macy

#Red #Carpet #Red Carpet

The Spirit Awards are great too, they'll say anything because they're not televised. Another great drinking night.
-- William H. Macy

#Drinking #Night #Awards

I'm really proud of the writing on Door to Door, and I think that's the Emmy that meant the most - the writing.
-- William H. Macy

#Writing #Thinking #Doors

The only people who do plays in LA are people who can't get jobs in TV shows.
-- William H. Macy

#Jobs #Tv Shows #Play

It started with the Godfather, this operatic violence. I don't know.
-- William H. Macy

#Violence

I'm sure I have a process, but it mostly takes place in my dreams.
-- William H. Macy

#Dream #Process

If I like the story and it's well written, and it's a character I want to play and they'll pay me, then I decide to do it.
-- William H. Macy

#Character #Play #Want

We must admit that it is quite common that people do have affairs with their leading ladies and men.
-- William H. Macy

#Men #People #Common

We thought sex was free. Sex is not free. There's a price to be paid emotionally, physically, even legally. Sex isn't a casual thing. It's a huge thing.
-- William H. Macy

#Sex #Casual

We all want to be 20 again and have that first sense of love.
-- William H. Macy

#Want #Firsts

I have been working out for 30 years, staying in shape in the dream that someday I would get to play a sex scene. Finally I get one, and they cut it.
-- William H. Macy

#Dream #Sex #Cutting

When I watch a film I get swept away. I don't really watch the camera.
-- William H. Macy

#Cameras #Watches #Film

When I was in New York, I was making a living. We had a summer house and a car that I could put in a garage. That's something for a stage actor.
-- William H. Macy

#Summer #New York #Car

There are some older women out there who are just knockouts, real beauties, and they're not getting the roles they should.
-- William H. Macy

#Real #Roles #Should

Nobody became an actor because he had a good childhood.
-- William H. Macy

#Childhood #Actors

It's hard to be depressed around a ukulele. You just pick it up and you're halfway home.
-- William H. Macy

#Home #Ukulele #Halfway

I'm a firm believer that character is highly overrated. Character is a trick that we do with the audience's collusion.
-- William H. Macy

#Character #Tricks #Believer

I think theater is powerful. The best experiences I had in the theater are more powerful than the best experiences I had in movies.
-- William H. Macy

#Powerful #Thinking #Theater

I think I've been in situations where they looked at me and just see some rich white guy - they don't see me at all.
-- William H. Macy

#Thinking #White #Guy

Yeah, I made it. It sneaks up on you. You're some schmuck and you wake up one day and you go, Good God, I'm the cheese.
-- William H. Macy

#One Day #Wake Up #Cheese

I have a tendency to say yes to a script or no to a script. Not yes based on a rewrite.
-- William H. Macy

#Scripts #Tendencies