I think honestly, believe it or not, that Dude, Where's My Car? in a way represents its time better than almost any film made around that.
We got to be really good friends [Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau]. It was just thrilling, every day. Every single day. I had a big couple of musical numbers in [Out to Sea], and I remember doing one of them and shooting it from beginning to end.
Comedy really is my bread and butter, even when I'm doing a serious character, with the exception of Outcast. I have found very little humor in this character. Most of the time, what I do, somewhere there is comedy in it.
Obviously we're doing a comedy [Fresh Hell], and our intent is to entertain, but we're also really aware and trying to stay aware of the subtext of what it's like to reach a certain age and be dismissed, basically, from the fraternity you've always wanted to be a part of, and the desperation involved in trying to claw your way back into it.
I went to New York out of college, and in my day, we were told that was the way you became a good actor. You don't go to Hollywood, you go straight to New York and work in the theater. So that's what most of the people I knew did.
I know a guy who writes on the show, it was his episode, and he called and said, "Would you do it?" And I said, "Yeah." There's not really much else to tell, except that I was thrilled to be on The Simpsons, because it's one of the greatest series in the history of television.
I love the South Park guys, Trey Parker and Matt Stone. They're geniuses. I throw that word around a lot, but I really do mean it.
I did a great show Off-Broadway called Leave It To Beaver Is Dead that was at the Public Theater in New York. It was written by Des McAnuff, who's an illustrious director now, and it starred... Well, I was in it, Mandy Patinkin, Dianne Wiest, Saul Rubinek, and Maury Chaykin. It was an amazing show. But it was definitely ahead of its time, and people didn't quite get it.
Both of the Quaid brothers, Randy and Dennis, were in my class, and Tommy Schlamme, who produced and directed The West Wing with Aaron Sorkin, among many others. Marianne Williamson, who did A Course In Miracles, she was in my high-school drama class, too. So it was kind of an amazing class.
My own personal favorite Cher song is the unforgettable Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves.
People think that being on Star Trek is career suicide, but it's really just the opposite
John Logan is maybe the No. 1 screenwriter in the world today, not to mention that he won a Tony for Best Play for Red. So he may just be the best writer period right now. He wrote The Aviator, and I was in New York doing a play, and he asked if they would see me for the film, just meet with me. 'Cause that's what Martin Scorsese does.
Certainly I find it most interesting to play a role that I can invent from nothing.
[The Aviator] came about through John Logan, who I've been friends with for many years.
As I get older and I get more of this dialogue and I lose more and more brain cells, it really does become the most difficult part of the job!
John Logan pretty much does the Woody Allen thing of just bringing people in and meeting them.
I don't read Science Fiction.
Having spent so much time in a fictional world, I prefer to read about the real world
I think it's the business part of the word show business that causes me the most concern.
I didn't audition or anything like that. But I went into John Loganhis office... It was his screening room in his office, actually, and I sat and schmoozed with him for about two minutes, which I think is standard, and, y'know, we got on fine.
Generally, I have to be able to get the lines out of my mouth without making a mistake before I go to sleep.
Radical surgery is never fun.
No, actually I'm trying to stay away from the big screen.
I don't read fiction at all.
Im thinking of going into rehab. Im not addicted to anything, but I think its good way to jumpstart an acting career.
