Peter Capaldi Quotes & Sayings

When I was at school, you couldn't draw and be into football, too. If you were into art, then you were seen as an absolute pansy, and there was no way you'd be admitted to the guys' world of football. — Peter Capaldi

I think the whole spoiler thing has taken over the media. — Peter Capaldi

I don't want to make a film to make a film. — Peter Capaldi

If I was to meet my eight-year-old self, I would say, 'Don't listen to what they say about you. Wear your anorak with pride!' — Peter Capaldi

Comic-Con is so legendary, so a great thrill to be invited along. — Peter Capaldi

Keep going and don't give up. You're doing wonderfully. You'll know how to fly this thing eventually. — Peter Capaldi

I've only lost my temper three times in my whole life. — Peter Capaldi

When I first came to London, I loved hanging around in cafes, smoking, scribbling, dreaming. It was life-affirming and fun. — Peter Capaldi

I'm so lucky to have worked with Burt Lancaster, who I remember was one of the first people I'd heard swearing in a really interesting way. — Peter Capaldi

Nowadays, kids ... young actors ... they go straight to L.A. before they've even done anything. — Peter Capaldi

Shouting at people keeps you alive, healthy, young, fresh. — Peter Capaldi

I hated improvisation because in my early days as an actor, improvisation meant somebody had just come down from Oxford and they were doing a play above a pub in Kentish Town, and the biggest ego would win. — Peter Capaldi

My Italian granny and my mother made great spaghetti, but it wasn't a kind of southern Italian, Godfather-esque kind of thing - it was a wonderful, big mixing pot of all kinds of people - when you came home from school and your mum wasn't in, there were lots of people you could go to. — Peter Capaldi

I got into music, I was in a band, I was at art school. I was quite trendy, although I'd hate to meet myself. The over-preening, the pretentiousness, the arrogance of youth! I think, 'Oh, that guy was so full of himself.' — Peter Capaldi

I don't think I would have been great in the 17th century. I would have enjoyed the frocks, and certainly some of the food would have been appealing, but the disease and hygiene would have worried me. — Peter Capaldi

The best advice is to get on with it. I'm very prone to falling into depressions - not clinical, just 'can't be bothered.' It's such a waste of time. — Peter Capaldi

When I was acting, I was always asking abut the mechanics of filmmaking. I decided I would learn what everyone on set was doing, so I would feel less threatened. — Peter Capaldi

What annoys me about it is that your fate is always in somebody else's hands. It's always up to somebody else to decide whether or not they want you in their show and so the majority of actors have to play out a waiting game. The constant fear is that it could all end tomorrow. — Peter Capaldi

I wake up in the morning, and I go, 'I'm Doctor Who! I'm playing Doctor Who. I'm Doctor Who.' — Peter Capaldi

I think all actors experience ups and downs. — Peter Capaldi

Maybe it's because I've been an actor for such a long time, but I think, unless you're a big star, you don't really have much control over anything. I've never been able to make any plans. — Peter Capaldi

What I've learnt being an actor is that you've got to be lucky. I got less lucky, and nobody was interested. If a part came up, it would be for the main corpse's friend's brother who was having problems with his marriage. — Peter Capaldi

Everywhere I go, I am The Doctor, and everyone smiles at me - they are pleased to see Doctor Who, who's far more exciting than I am. — Peter Capaldi

I knew Richard E. Grant, and I went to him and said "Would you like to [play Kafka in the film]?" and he said yeah, and then suddenly I had all these people who were happy to come along. We got a little bit of money from Scottish Screen to pay for it. I got so many favors because I knew people in the business. I was in a remarkably good position. I got so many favors from people. I got the Monty Python technical people. — Peter Capaldi

STG and the Ramshorn Theatre are a vital part of Glasgow's rich cultural history. To abandon them now is to abandon not only our past, but our future. — Peter Capaldi

The biggest thing I have realized was that you have to choose your collaborators very carefully, and that not everybody can like you. The process of filmmaking is so difficult, there's no point in doing it unless you can do it the way you want. — Peter Capaldi

Before 'Local Hero,' I'd been knocking about Glasgow in rock bands, drinking too much and generally being 21. My opinion of actors was that they were straight and boring, so you see, I was completely unprepared for being one. — Peter Capaldi

I found American actors quite scary because they're brilliant actors and brilliantly funny, and they never stopped once you wound them up ... off they went and they just deliver fantastic stuff. — Peter Capaldi

I'm not terribly well read. My wife forces books into my hands and insists I read them, which I'm grateful to her for. She made me read 'War and Peace.' The whole thing. It was amazing, but I had to hide it. You can't walk round reading 'War and Peace' - it's like you're in a comedy sketch and you think you're smart. — Peter Capaldi

The Americans just have a great sort of wit about them. — Peter Capaldi

I don't go to pubs. — Peter Capaldi

It's weathered many a storm, but the British film industry is, thankfully, still afloat. — Peter Capaldi

I don't want to find myself at the age of 60 waiting by the telephone for someone else to decide if I am capable of being in what might be a crummy TV production. — Peter Capaldi

My childhood growing up in that part of Glasgow always sounds like some kind of sub-Catherine Cookson novel of earthy working-class immigrant life, which to some extent it was, but it wasn't really as colourful that. — Peter Capaldi

Why can't jazz musicians just leave a melody alone? — Peter Capaldi

One year was so bad for me and my wife that we were going to have to sell our house until Elaine decided to change career and earn some money. — Peter Capaldi

If you travel in time and space, most of the people you know and love will eventually be gone. But you'll also be able to go and find them again. — Peter Capaldi

I think the most extraordinary thing about fans is the level of excellence that they show in the work that they do. I mean, if you go onto the internet and see some of the fan videos that have been put together, they're just extraordinary; they could be programmes in their own right. — Peter Capaldi

For all I know, my grandfather was a bank robber in Kilsyth. — Peter Capaldi

I haven't found anything to complain about. But being Scottish, it won't be long. — Peter Capaldi

I spent four months once doing a play on Broadway. — Peter Capaldi

Nothing compares to being in a room full of politicians screaming abuse at each other all night. It's hilarious but also a bit terrifying. — Peter Capaldi

If you put me in a real Tardis, I dread to think what would happen to the universe. — Peter Capaldi

The older I get, the more I think lightness of touch is an incredibly difficult thing to do. — Peter Capaldi

We had our British background of traditional theatre behind us. — Peter Capaldi

Being asked to play 'The Doctor' is an amazing privilege. Like the Doctor himself I find myself in a state of utter terror and delight. I can't wait to get started. — Peter Capaldi

I love people where, at the end of the day, they'll pick up a paintbrush and paint clouds. They can physically make things. — Peter Capaldi

You can't, as an actor, conduct yourself by making constant references to other people. — Peter Capaldi

I failed the audition to get into drama school. — Peter Capaldi

I think that people like the idea that fans are sort of slightly eccentric and strange, but generally I've just found them very creative and warm and cheerful. — Peter Capaldi

When I was a kid, I wrote to the BBC, and the producers sent me a huge package through the post with 'Doctor Who' scripts. I'd never even seen a script and couldn't believe that they actually wrote this stuff down. It sort of opened a door. — Peter Capaldi

At 17 years old, STG took me under its wing and shared its resources and wisdom with me, even allowing me to take part in a show at the Edinburgh Festival. Without STG and the Ramshorn Theatre, I would not have found access to the world of drama that I later made my profession. — Peter Capaldi

My parents didn't take me to the theatre to see Chekhov when I was growing up - we went to see 'Francie and Josie' once every five years. — Peter Capaldi

I wouldn't be here if it were not for the grant system that paid for me to go to art school - because my parents couldn't have afforded it. — Peter Capaldi

I was just interested in directing. So I just kept having a go at trying to write little scripts and get things together, and my wife just had a slip of the tongue and said, "Franz Kafka's It's A Wonderful Life" when she meant to say "Frank Capra's." There it is right there. That's a gag that we could make into something. — Peter Capaldi

I'm not saying that all politicians are awful. I don't know any of them well enough to say whether they're awful or not. But almost every day, you find out something about them that's appalling. Maybe we shouldn't be surprised any longer. — Peter Capaldi

I don't like parties. There was never a party I was at where I didn't wish I was somewhere else. — Peter Capaldi

My family know not to get me any tech for Christmas. I can never get it to work, and it all becomes very tearful and pressurised. — Peter Capaldi

I'm pretty good for an old geek. — Peter Capaldi

I've lost count of the times I've been asked to 'be' Malcolm Tucker: to go on a political program on television, presumably in order to be the character and give opinions as him. — Peter Capaldi

Believe it or not, one teacher used to call me a giant spastic for not being able to play football. — Peter Capaldi

It was great being brought up in a Glasgow working-class tenement. It wasn't miserable, and it wasn't poverty stricken. It felt very safe, full of delights. — Peter Capaldi

I like the constant rise and fall of the British film industry. But above all, I like the workhorses who kept going no matter what. — Peter Capaldi

The biggest problem of all is that it's very difficult to tell my daughter, 'Swearing is not clever or funny,' because I earn a living by swearing. — Peter Capaldi

What you're doing is acting with yourself. Well, I'm my favourite actor, so in a way it's quite straightforward for me. — Peter Capaldi

The truth is that I got to Hollywood, and I didn't know what to do once I got there. — Peter Capaldi

I lived through a golden period where society felt that it was good to help people who didn't have a great deal of money fulfil their potential. — Peter Capaldi

Recently, I dreamed that I returned home to find my wife had married Ray Winstone. They were kind and let me stay, but the whole thing was awkward. — Peter Capaldi

Once you reach a certain age, you find yourself visiting hospitals a lot. — Peter Capaldi

I think the periods of being unsuccessful have made me a better actor. — Peter Capaldi

I don't have any expectations of anything. — Peter Capaldi

If I had gone to drama school, I wouldn't be sitting here now because it would have blanded me out; it would have just turned me into another actor. — Peter Capaldi

Of course I've had my moments of wanting to go back to Scotland, and I almost did a couple of times, but other things just came up. — Peter Capaldi

I just consciously try to enjoy the good things that are happening. And if it ended tomorrow, that would be fine. — Peter Capaldi

One of the very, very exciting things I have found here in L.A. is that no one talks to you about being Scottish. Whereas, if you are in London and you are trying to put films together and be a film-maker, there is a kind of unspoken sense that, if you are Scottish, you have something to overcome or else you cannot really do that project. — Peter Capaldi

There is no greater symbol of the artistic spirit of Scotland than the Mackintosh building. But more than that it is a symbol of where art belongs, rising as it does out of the heart of a great city. A mighty castle on a hill, it is a part of me, and of all Glaswegians. — Peter Capaldi

I turn down invitations to events where I know there will be politicians. — Peter Capaldi

There are only a handful of really good TV programmes, and I'm blessed to be in one of them. — Peter Capaldi

Hollywood producers aren't going to say, 'Get me that swearing, grey-haired, headless chicken. We need him for our new 'High School Musical' movie!' — Peter Capaldi

It's one thing getting the job of Doctor Who, which is wonderful. And then the next thing they say to you is, 'We're going to announce it live on television!' And you think, 'That's not exactly what I thought I was signing up for!' — Peter Capaldi

In Peter Ackroyd's book 'London: The Biography,' he describes the route of the medieval wall that enclosed the original city. Take the book and follow it from the Tower of London via the Barbican to Ludgate Hill. You experience the real history of London. — Peter Capaldi

I can't imagine I'll be the new George Clooney. That's not really in the cards. — Peter Capaldi

Even though I am a lifelong 'Doctor Who' fan, I've not played him since I was nine. I downloaded old scripts and practised those in front of the mirror. — Peter Capaldi

If you actually have to engage with somebody who's superior to you and actually battle with them, struggle with them, I think it's more interesting, and funnier for the audience. — Peter Capaldi

Crime is interesting. It's huge and fascinating, and it's what my business, TV and film, is largely based on. But the realities are tragic, and in crime drama you rarely see the pain of bereavement or any consequences. It's reduced to a chess game. — Peter Capaldi

I think it's always exciting when 'Doctor Who' touches its past. — Peter Capaldi

There is no such thing as too much swearing. Swearing is just a piece of linguistic mechanics. The words in-between are the clever ones. — Peter Capaldi

I love Hugh Laurie, but I don't want to be a guy who goes to work every day for nine months of the year in a corner of Burbank. I really don't. I like doing a bit here and a bit there and strange things, and I think that's held me back. — Peter Capaldi

'Doctor Who' has a certain amount of showbiz attached to it. — Peter Capaldi

If people enjoy my profile from the privacy of their own home, that's entirely up to you. — Peter Capaldi

I've had very bleak experiences in hospitals, but they were also sometimes very funny. — Peter Capaldi

I haven't played Doctor Who since I was 9 on the playground. — Peter Capaldi

I destroyed all my geek stuff because I didn't want to be a geek, and I regret it to this day. Consumed in the geek bonfire of the vanities was a collection of autographs and letters from Peter Cushing, Spike Milligan and Frankie Howerd, the first Doctor Whos, actual astronauts, and many more. — Peter Capaldi

Personally, I have as little to do with politicians as possible. The ones that I've met I've found very boring. They're extremely egotistical, incredibly self-important. If I can help it, I try to stay as far away from them as possible. — Peter Capaldi

I suppose I just like being arty. That's all. Arty. — Peter Capaldi

The only time I've tried to make plans, the cosmic sledgehammer has intervened and something else has happened. You just have to wait and see what comes your way, so that's what I do. — Peter Capaldi

We don't consider the Wizard of Oz or Father Christmas to be too old. They're still magical characters, and the fact they've been around the block only adds to their magic. — Peter Capaldi

I went to art school in the days when it was what you did if you didn't want to be like everybody else. You wanted to be strange and different, and art school encouraged that. We hated the drama students - they were guys with pipes and cardigans. — Peter Capaldi

I think the nice thing about 'Doctor Who' is whether people like it or don't like it, somewhere, someone loves you and will always love you - and the more everyone hates you, the more they'll love you. — Peter Capaldi

One of the problems with episodic television of any color is that everything has got to be okay at the end of the episode so it can start again next week. — Peter Capaldi