William H. Macy Quotes

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

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.

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.

That red carpet has to be felt to be believed.

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

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

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

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

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

I love metaphor the way some people love junk food.

You should know the lines, be prepared, get sleep, and have the script analyzed so you're ready to rock and roll.

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.

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.

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

All that back-story stuff doesn't help. What you get paid for is to stand toe-to-toe with the other actor and get him to do your will.

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

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

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.

It’s a shame...you just don’t see young people doing anything outside these days.

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

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

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.

Actors are embracing a new aesthetic, which is leaning more toward truthful and simple and direct, as opposed to what we would normally call sitcom acting.

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

When I watch a film I get swept away. I don't really watch the camera.

Directors work 10 times harder than anyone else. Get paid a quarter.

Nobody became an actor because he had a good childhood.

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.

I've always felt that, no matter where you go, people are just people.

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.

It started with the Godfather, this operatic violence. I don't know.

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

A good actor's director, first of all, is prepared, so there's not an exorbitant amount of wasted footage.

Here are the good things about independent films: They do the more interesting, chancy scripts. They're run by love.

A good director is very well prepared, and knows exactly how he's going to cut the film, so the shooting is as efficient as possible.

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

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.

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.

Directing is a huge amount of work with very little payoff, and a quarter of the money, and nine times more time spent.

I loved Batman, don't get me wrong, but that kind of mindless violence is not good for young children.

Ultimately, a more experienced director realizes that you've got to stop sometime and just move on. They're braver about that.

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

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

Making a mistake means overshooting a scene, shooting too many takes, for instance. Long after you've got it, you just keep shooting.

I do want to do TV, but I'm looking to be a creator, writer, and producer, and perhaps I could be a recurring character. Do 10 shows a year, something like that.

When a director makes a mistake, people suffer. People suffer horribly sometimes.

I have a tendency to say 'yes' to a script or no to a script. Not 'yes' based on a rewrite.

We all want to be 20 again and have that first sense of love.

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

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.