Career Movie Quotes & Sayings

I've been identified with pink throughout my career, but I'm not as crazy about it as I've led people to believe. My favorite colors are actually neutrals - black and white - but then who thinks of a movie queen in black and white? Everything has to be in living color. — Jayne Mansfield

We can't negate television. Unfortunately, I do feel in many ways that it did kill my movie career. It did do that. But would I not do it again? Do I have any regrets about doing it? No. — Shirley Jones

My entire career is contemporary based, not by choice, but just by character. So, all the movies I've done, except for one in 40 years, are contemporary. But I never did an effects movie. So, I'm also a producer and I was really curious about how this whole thing went together. — Michael Douglas

I got to make 'Trishakti' with Arshad Warsi, who was a newcomer at that time. The movie took three years to complete and became dated by the time it was released. The movie did not even get a proper release and bombed at the box office. It was a very bad patch of my life and a big disaster for my career. — Madhur Bhandarkar

Business is fun. Controlling your own destiny is fun. Creating an idea and turning it into a movie; finding an artist and guiding their career and bringing them to some type of status - there's joy in that. — Queen Latifah

When I landed in L.A. in early '89, William Morris decided to take me on to see if I could get any jobs. I was cast in a TV movie called Protected Surf, and made $30,000 in four weeks, and I decided I needed to take acting seriously, because I had never made that much money in a year, much less four weeks. That's when I decided I thought I could make a career out of it. — Thomas Haden Church

My buddies all still make fun of me about the whole 'Leprechaun' thing, and I'm proud of that movie. I'm just as proud of that work as I am of anything else that I've done. I feel like where I was in my career at the time, I committed to the character. — Laz Alonso

I wanted to make sure that I did one movie in my career that mothers hug me for. — Adam Sandler

When I look back at this career I've had, I don't know where it goes from here, but certainly any time I can make a movie that's different, that explores something that's not a retread of something else, I'm interested in it. — Don Coscarelli

One day I decided to move towards documentaries or to move to more directing in documentaries at this point in my career. Why documentaries? I also love fiction. I would love to direct a fiction movie as well. But I think where I come from, reality is so interesting and has in it so many good stories to tell, this is why I'm doing that. I'm enjoying that. — Dror Moreh

Dice Rules is one of the most appalling movies I have ever seen. It could not be more damaging to the career of Andrew Dice Clay if it had been made as a documentary by someone who hated him. The fact that Clay apparently thinks this movie is worth seeing is revealing and sad, indicating that he not only lacks a sense of humor, but also ordinary human decency. — Roger Ebert

One of the greatest moments of my career was on the road promoting 'Superbad' with Michael Cera and Chris Mintz-Plasse. We were showing the movie at colleges. — Jonah Hill

When I was doing the first 'American Pie' movie, I was just happy to have a job. We had a good time, and it was a great group of people, but like any project that I've worked on in my career, you just put your best foot forward, and you're all working together to make the best movie possible. — Thomas Ian Nicholas

I don't think it was me getting rid of any sort of imageI do specific things in my career that are tailored for a specific audience. Obviously I have a younger generation that looks at me - and I really appreciate that. And I just did an animated movie, so I want to respect that and still do things that will earn me that respect. But I also want to do things that challenge me and put me out of my element. — Selena Gomez

I'm in kind of a strange position - I have a strong Australian career and a strong British career. Then there's the American career. For every movie I do here, I do two somewhere else. I bounce back and forth between the three places. — Caroline Goodall

Everybody gets typecast in movies, but you have to make wise choices. I'd say around 90 percent of movie casting is about the way you look, so you have to fight that. If producers had their way, I'd only be in action films, but I'm interested in a more varied career than that. — Famke Janssen

Being a movie star isn't easy. It requires a lot of commitment and sacrifice. Your career goes through extreme ups and downs. You are judged all the time. Great things are written about you, but at the same time, not-so-good things are also said. At times, things are said about you that are completely untrue, and people mostly try to pull you down. — Deepika Padukone

I couldn't have left my career as an actor on a better note than to have done a cameo in the Lost In Space movie. Doing this part is the highlight of my career. What a way to leave the profession! — Mark Goddard

When I was a teenager, the biggest heartthrob was Tab Hunter. He was in every movie out of Warner Bros. until he was exposed as gay, and his career faded. That was an object lesson. I knew I must protect my sexual orientation. — George Takei

Filming is completely - was totally new to me ... I had a movie career which wasn't supposed to be, so I couldn't be more thrilled. For those who work, parts seem to get more interesting. — Judi Dench

I don't know if it was a defining moment. I knew it as soon as I could comprehend the possibility of having a career. I knew very young I wanted to be a movie star. As much as I grew into love of the craft. As soon as I could speak I was auditioning and going to classes every day. It was my life. — Columbus Short

I started my career wanting to make a 'James Bond' movie, and I couldn't get hired! I made 'The Bourne Identity,' and ultimately the impact of that film was that it changed the 'James Bond' franchise. — Doug Liman

I would love to direct an 'Apes' movie. It would be in the spirit of where I'm going with my career - avatars played by actors to say something about the human condition. — Andy Serkis

I tried something when my career was really struggling: reaching out to people, to filmmakers I wanted to work with. I genuinely wrote a letter to Clint Eastwood saying, "Hey man, I'm a fan and I would be an extra in your movie." — Josh Lucas

It sucks to be the runner-up because I've been the runner-up for a long time in my career. I would get so close and then lose a huge movie and sometimes it's one kid who beats you out for three different movies. It's so frustrating at the time, but what's so great is the lesson you take from that, which is, 'I've got to get better.' — Jason Dohring

My agent and I try to be picky with roles so that I can drive my career in different directions and be different, creative characters. I want to be an actor for the rest of my life and to have fun with my career. So I told him that I wish I could do a movie that already has a fan base. And then 'Twilight' came along! — Kellan Lutz

I never feel so utterly fraudulent as when I review a movie whose charms impress all in the world and I simply do not get it. The other variant is that I love something the world disdains. This has had severe career consequences: I am still famous - or notorious - in certain quarters where I am recalled as the man who liked 'Hudson Hawk.' — Stephen Hunter

I am kind of a private person, so I don't miss that part of show business at all. Looking back on my career in television and making a movie like 'The Sound of Music' from an adult point of view, it actually seems kind of unreal. I was involved in shows that people grew up with - that hold memories for them - and it's a cool feeling. — Angela Cartwright

I'm not a movie-based person, in terms of how it affects my career, the industry. I don't care about that. I probably haven't been too smart about that. — David Caruso

I think I want to pursue a movie career and maybe even pursue some theatre. — Katie Holmes

'Howard the Duck!' That's a really interesting movie. I appreciate my career, because I've had a lot of very interesting ups and downs, and most people ... That movie is such a famous flop. In a land of a lot of flops, it's kind of awesome to be in a really famous flop. I mean, it's kind of a poster child for flops. — Lea Thompson

Early in my career it was very important that I gain the reputation. I haven't been on the road in two or three years, but when I say tickets are on sale, I know they're going to be gone, even if my movie bombed or my TV show sucked. — Chris Rock

The more I go on in this career of making albums, writing songs and playing music, the more I think of each album as a movie. I really wanted to make a film, but making a film is much more expensive than making a record. — J. D. Souther

I think 'Comic Book: The Movie' is the apex of my career in terms of making a personal statement that has significance to me and resonates with biographical detail about not only my career, but all the people that I've worked with in my career. All of it's riddled, on- and off-camera, with people I've known and worked with for decades. — Mark Hamill

One thing that's great about being a character actor is that a movie doesn't rest on your shoulders. If it bombs, it won't hurt my career. — Joe Pantoliano

I figured, if I failed, I'd tried something that I hadn't tried before and if one movie was going to destroy my career than I didn't have much of a career to start with. I just went for it. God willing I wasn't over the top and didn't embarrass myself. — Elizabeth Pena

The acting bug just seemed to stick with me. I loved going to theatre school in college and continued to train in film classes and had been auditioning for T.V. and movie roles since I was in my late teens. My career has been slow and steady, and I kind of like it that way. — Laura Mennell

I was never the ingenue or the pretty girlfriend of Tom Cruise in a movie. I didn't have that career, so I don't have to compete on that level. — Jodie Foster

This is not a change of career for me. Just an expansion of it. I have contracts and obligations and business partners who are counting on me. And I would only want to do another movie if it's as good as this one. — Claudia Schiffer

My television and movie career has also taken me all over the world. I've had great times in the Far East, Russia, South America and Sweden - where I met my wife of 55 years, Maj. — Larry Hagman

Early in your career, you feel like there is a formula, a path you have to take. You have to do this movie because this person directed it and you have to be associated with these people. In some ways, I have thrown that out. — James Marsden

Every time I make a movie, I'm prepared for it to become influential and career-defining - but I have no control over these things. — Claire Danes

I admire many actors, though I don't think there's anyone whose career I would want to mirror sort of by the beats. What I'm really looking to do is constantly defy expectations. I'm very curious to see if you can actually have a character actor and a movie star's career combined. — David Oyelowo

I came in on this movie after there had been a director and I came in after Tom Courtenay had talked to Ron Harwood about making a movie. So, you know Tom and Albert Finney had been friends since the beginning of their career as they became stars around the same time - Tom always reminds me that Albert was first with Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and then Tom with The Long Distance Runner. — Dustin Hoffman

As actors, the great thing about our career is we get to change from role to role. I don't want to be known as "put him in the movie because he has nice abs" guy. — Anthony Mackie

The fun is getting to wear multiple disguises and getting to explore multiple personalities and bring them to life. So a movie career definitely affords me that. — Jenna Fischer

People say, 'Well, whose career do you follow? Where do you see your career going? What movie do you want to do next?' And I can't tell you what type of movie I would go and do next. I would have to read the script and feel for a character. And if I feel in my gut for a character, I know that that's somebody I have to play. — Blake Lively

I took myself out of the business to study film at NYU and the School of Visual Arts. I grew up on movie sets and was fascinated with the camera and behind-the-scenes work. I felt it would help my career as an actor if I knew all aspects of film. — Devin Ratray

Blythe Danner is somebody whose career I admire. She's a great actress and does good work, but also has a life of her own. I love my job but, at the end of the day, I want to come home and watch a movie and drink a bottle of wine with my husband. — Anna Faris

I'm going to college. I don't care if it ruins my career. I'd rather be smart than a movie star. — Natalie Portman

That character called 'Robin Wright' in the movie called 'The Congress' has nothing to do with me ... I've never felt that way about life choices, career, etc. — Robin Wright

Of all the jaw-droppingly beautiful women who've become genuine movie stars, none has had a longer film career (62 years), has been filmed in Technicolor more often (34 times), has had a more versatile group of leading men (from John Wayne to John Candy) or has spent more time held captive on a pirate ship than our TCM Star of the Month for July, the magnificent red-headed Maureen O'Hara. — Robert Osborne

It's kind of interesting to experience that kind of a ride after well, essentially so many years of enjoying a career based on failures and then suddenly something clicks. The weird thing is, I never changed a thing. The process is still the process as it ever was. The fact that people decided to go and see a movie that I was in was probably the most shocking thing that I've ever been through. — Johnny Depp

Would you pull the lever for yourself, Ben Affleck? What has Barack Obama meant to your movie career, Ben? — Rush Limbaugh

I was an executive at Columbia Pictures for ten years. I was doing great. My career was on the upswing. But, right then, was when I said I gotta quit. I gotta start my own company. I gotta be on the other side of it because I felt the strong call on my life - to tell stories that, on the face of it, might not look like a commercial movie. — DeVon Franklin

I'm just going to take this in a minute. The wrestling world, we're kind of our own breed and different from maybe some movie stars who have their big speeches that they do that ends their long career in a roast. You're entire career in the WWE kind of like one big roast, but this is the moment where you get to soak it in and just see what's going on for a minute. — Amy Dumas

Any adaptation - and I've done three in my career. I did 'Sweeney Todd' and 'Hugo' and 'Coriolanus.' It's important to find what makes it a movie as opposed to just a film presentation of a stage play. — John Logan

'Sabotage' was an opportunity. That was journeyman work, but the irony is I learned more off that movie on what filmmaking is and isn't than everything else combined. A lot of lessons, and it will impact me for the rest of my career. — David Ayer

Oh, my father's had a huge, immense impact on my career. I grew up on movie sets that he was working on, and it just become a part or was a part, was the only part of my life because I spent my whole childhood traveling and being on film sets. — Jake Busey

You don't get to see your family much. In the movie business, directors often go out of town for long periods of time, and even if you're in town, you're working 14-15 hour days. People tend to not balance out the important things in their lives with their career. — Jon Favreau

A movie is a mass consumption product. I have got no delusions about being niche. I don't want to be niche. Though in the earlier part of my career I was into niche cinema, doing independent films - and I do have a revolutionary bent of mind - but you cannot make a change from outside; you have to be a part of it. — Randeep Hooda

My movie career - if such a thing even exists - is laughable. — Elaine Stritch

First there was Caine's patently false "confession." Then there was the fact that the FAYZ Legal Defense Fund racked up three million dollars in its first two weeks. Then there was a judicial panel that took statements from eminent scientists and concluded that the FAYZ was in fact a separate universe and thus not covered under California law.
Finally, there was a shift in public opinion following the involvement of the two popular movie stars, the McDonald's documentary starring Albert Hillsborough, the likelihood of a major Hollywood feature film, and the kiss seen round the world. Polls now showed 68 percent of Californians wanted no criminal charges brought against the FAYZ survivors.
The kiss alone would have wrecked the career of any prosecutor or politician who had anything bad to say about Astrid Ellison or Sam Temple. — Michael Grant

It doesn't matter if you're doing a studio movie or you're doing an independent movie. When you get to set and you're doing a scene, it's always going to be the same job. I really don't think about my career, in terms of planning it out and what this does for me. — Kristen Stewart

Mike Nichols asked if I would do The Birdcage. Mike and I are dear friends but he had never offered me a feature role in a movie. My television career opened other doors for me. — Christine Baranski

The publishers of Superman comic books, National Periodical Publications [later DC Comics], killed my days, murdered my nights, choked my happiness, strangled my career. I consider National's executives economic murderers, money-mad monsters.
I, Jerry Siegel, the co-originator of Superman, put a curse of the Superman movie! — Jerry Siegel

It used to be that a movie star would have a 20-year career. Now if you get three to five years, you're lucky. — Rex Smith

I honestly never thought in my career I was going to do a body-switching movie. — David Dobkin

Here's the story: 25 years ago, I had my lips injected with silicone. Stupid thing to do at 24. I saw 'Beaches.' Remember that movie 'Beaches'? I did it with my best girlfriend, so she and I go and we get our lips done. Fine. I have it like that for my whole career, right? So then cut to a couple of years ago, I have a doctor remove as much as they possibly can because it got to the point where they were yucky. You know, they get hard. It's gross. They are now whatever that was after they took out as much of the silicone as they could. — Lisa Rinna

I've done a lot of movies before 'Entourage,' and I hope to always have my movie career going. Maybe I could take on another TV show, too. — Kevin Dillon

Everything I thought about acting and having a movie career has changed from what I thought when I started. — Rebecca De Mornay

I had to act in a school play when I was about ten years old. I really didn't want to do it. But everyone had to do it so I didn't have a choice. A talent agent came and watched it and later gave me some work. It's funny because I'd always known that I wanted a movie career. I just didn't think that I would be in the movies. — Kristen Stewart

I have a great career, and no matter what I am doing, a big blockbuster movie ... or my small documentary, David Letterman will call and say I would like you to sit on my couch. — Rosie Perez

I want to beat up Michael Fassbender in a movie. I was with him at the beginning of his career when he did an episode of 'Murphy's Law.' He's a proper superstar and enormously talented, but I want to do a scene where I properly duff him up. — James Nesbitt

Working with Will Smith was one of the highlights of my career. He is so talented and has a tremendous work ethic. We are still friends, and I reach out to him and his partner to pitch ideas. He loves my mother. In fact, my mother was his son Jaden's acting coach for the movie 'Pursuit of Happiness.' — Kim Fields

Just getting movies made is difficult because it takes a lot of money; I mean, it costs more money to make one movie than most bands will spend on every single record of their entire career; it's a huge undertaking. — Rob Zombie

Working with Adrien Brody was like going to Julliard, but instead of four years, I went for four weeks. He was like the Albert Einstein of professors, it was just the best experience of my life. Adrien was the most influential mentor in my acting career thus far, and even after the movie he continues to mentor me. — Sami Gayle

There's only one movie in my career I've had regrets with cutting it shorter, and I think some scenes maybe I shouldn't have cut. — Ang Lee

And a lesson in this movie is dig beneath the surface. And so with my words, with my character, I purposely created a character that was away from how you've known me thus far in my career. — Shemar Moore

I'm good friends with The Rock, and I talk to him all the time. And he says that, even though his movie career has taken off, he misses the instant gratification of wrestling, and the live crowds, and I could see being that way myself. — Trish Stratus

I was lucky enough to have a plethora of types of roles before and during the horror movie part of my career. — Dee Wallace

'Wall Street' was a very important movie for me in terms of my career. I won an Oscar, and then the film 'Fatal Attraction' came right after it. — Michael Douglas

I'm used to American actors who have a movie career thinking television acting is beneath them. — Alan Ball

For me, I'm always looking for opportunities to work with people who are better than me, who are more experienced than me, people from whom I can learn. And who could I learn more from than someone with an unprecedented movie star career that has spanned over thirty years whose name is Tom Cruise? — David Oyelowo

I was hoping for it to be possibly a movie career as I still would like to see that happen. I enjoyed making 200 Motels and did try out for a few things when I lived in LA, but nothing ever happened. I'm still hoping though. — Jimmy Carl Black

After 'Bhaji On The Beach', I didn't make a movie for six years. I couldn't get a movie off the ground for love nor money. It was a very tough time and I almost gave up. If I had been an Oxbridge bloke after 'Bhaji', my career would have been very different — Gurinder Chadha

I knew that one movie could either kill my career or give birth to it. It's the same thing with Nelson. If you fail at Nelson [movie about nelson Mandela], you don't get to comeback and say, 'Well, I was trying. Let me do it again.' There are no re-takes. — Terrence Howard

Everybody perceives me because of my career that I'm a movie star, or I'm this model, but I'm still the same person I was when I was a little girl. — Andie MacDowell

I tell everybody on the first day of making a movie that if anyone's here to further their career, they should leave. I'm gonna make the movie in such a way that we won't have a career when this movie comes out. Because the people who hold the moneybags are not going to want to share any of that money with us to make the next movie! — Michael Moore

Look: the day I've made a movie that I think is really good, I hope I say it out loud so somebody can say, 'Then you probably made the worst movie of your entire career.' — Christopher McQuarrie

I'm a big fan of fiction film where you have a story and you have to transform that into a visual language, basically working with actors and also transforming that into how you pronounce that in the visual language of the shots, the construction of the shots and the lighting. All of that appealed to me from the beginning of my career at the university. When I graduated from the university, I wanted to deal mainly with that, with the visual aspect of the movie. — Dror Moreh

Oh, absolutely. James Caan was the first movie star I'd ever met, much less worked with. He was an important person to me and my brothers and Wes. Bottle Rocket was the first movie for all of us. As you know, back then, [Caan] was having some career changes, I think. — Luke Wilson

The turning point in my career was Jaws. It was a turning point because I was a director-for-hire before Jaws and because it was such a big hit I could do any movie I wanted and Hollywood just wrote me a cheque. — Steven Spielberg

When I attended the University, I daydreamed about being a movie star. I would do my dressing room in Early American and give lovely presents to my make-up man and hairdresser for making me look so lovely, and so on. When I got my contract at 20th I was in seventh heaven, but I found out that a movie career is mostly hard work laced with disappointments. — Coleen Gray

I got into television, and I'm a television guy, so I've never really had a movie career. — Ed O'Neill

But I just felt at one point that I was on a hamster wheel, you know? Just doing movie after movie and thinking so much about career related things and I think missing out on hanging with my friends and family as much I needed to. — Woody Harrelson

I never got home so early in my entire Manhattan career. This includes the time I had fifteen minutes to get home, change and go to the movie theater to stand on line for six hours for the midnight showing of "Twilight".
Don't judge me. My mother does that enough for twenty people. — Robert Halliwell

If a kid is really interested in wanting to have a career in aviation, he's actually learning and getting some of the [basics], not even just fringe. There are things in here that movie [Planes] about like the pulp of an engine, and it's the actual engine, the actual parts and pieces. So I felt like I got schooled as well. I learned a lot just being in there and doing that. — Dane Cook

Any decision that's made about my career is ultimately my decision, and it's helped me not to plan too much. I've never been the guy thinking, 'I want to do a play this year, I want to do this kind of movie or this kind of character.' I don't have that sort of control. — Craig Bierko

'Flying Down to Rio' established RKO as a leader in musical film production throughout the 1930s. The film helped to rescue the studio from its financial straits and it gave a real boost to my movie career. — Ginger Rogers