William H. Macy Quotes & Sayings

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

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

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

I've got two little girls, I'm not scared about sex. I'll teach them, it's not going to kill them. But what could kill them is violence. Guns, drinking and driving, these are the real dangers in our society. — William H. Macy

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

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

What actors are good at doing is walking into a situation that should make you incredibly self-conscious and frightened and doing it anyway. That's the gig, pretending that you are comfortable. — William H. Macy

I do them all for the money, I really do. — William H. Macy

Somebody's gotta stand up and say pubic hair is good, murder is bad. Sex is good, violence is bad. — William H. Macy

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

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

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

There are statistics out that say 20 year olds, 18 years olds think about sex 90 percent of the time. They only don't think about sex when they're eating, and that's rare. — William H. Macy

Talk about putting your money where your mouth is. It's not right. Someone's gotta say it. They said it. I applaud them. — William H. Macy

I introduced myself to Scorsese and I said, "If you need someone to do craft services, I'm there." — William H. Macy

I'm not against watching myself, but I miss a lot of it. I've got two little kids who we don't let watch TV. — William H. Macy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I'm not much of a preparer. I think sometimes as an actor you need to go out and learn some skills, but in terms of preparation for understanding the character, it's all on the page, and if it's not on the page, you're in trouble. — William H. Macy

So many actors spend so much energy trying to remember the lines. It's so foolish. Guys are the worst. — William H. Macy

When Fargo came out, I hired a publicist for the first time in my life. I thought, if ever I was going to make it, that was then. — William H. Macy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Perhaps there is such a thing as obscene sex, but I know that violence is always obscene. So I don't get it, that you can disembowel a woman but you can't see her tits. Who made that up? That's sick! — William H. Macy

The bar raises as you go. — William H. Macy

It's a shame ... you just don't see young people doing anything outside these days. — William H. Macy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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