In my heart, I've never left Brazil.
There is no question that everybody who works in show business is lucky because of the number of people who wish they where working in show business.
I think there is something like 90% unemployment in the Screen Actors Guild, so we are the exception.
[Out To Sea] began a relationship I had with [director] Martha Coolidge for a few years that was wonderful, and she certainly cast me in the best roles I've ever had in film.
Hollywood has more than its share of harsh and crewel stories. In fact, it's probably more the norm than the exception.
And, you know, when you are a kid, everybody wants to be an actor. I think that everybody wants to be in show business, frankly.
Bill Prady and Chuck Lorre, the guys who run that show [Big Bang Theory], are really funny and really smart, and the cast is fantastic to work with.
That job [on Out to Sea], more than any I've ever done, I couldn't wait to get to work in the morning. And not only that, but I had a great part. So it was just beyond fun on every level.
[Out To Sea] was like a dream come true for me, because I got to work with Jack [Lemmon] and Walter [Matthau], who were unbelievable.
I was, like, "Wow, is this ever going to happen again? Am I ever going to work with another bunch of people I get along with this well?" And then, sure enough, Threshold was just a great bunch of people, and I thought, "Hey, I could hang with these people for a long time!" But, unfortunately, it was 13 episodes and we were out of there.
One of the things about working on Star Trek that was always so great was that we all got along as well as we did. We really became family.
That was a really interesting series [Threshold ] that I think would've been really great had it continued. I know Brannon Braga, who was running the show at the time, had a lot of really interesting ideas for what was going to happen the second, third, fourth, and fifth seasons, and they had it really planned out what was going to go on. But CBS just decided to pull the plug on it.
The woman who wrote the movie [Ladies And Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains], her name is Nancy Dowd. She's a wonderful writer. She wrote Coming Home. And when I read the script, at that time, I thought, "This movie is going to do for girls what Breaking Away did for boys." I thought it was going to be huge. It was a great script.
Actually, I had a really nice part in that movie [Ladies And Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains]. I mean, I have, like, one second in the final-cut version, where I say "You're fired" to Diane Lane. That's about all you see of me.
We [with John Logan] started talking about The Searchers, and then he went on to tell me a story about when he first met John Wayne, and he said, "Hey, you be me and I'll be Wayne," and I said, "No, let me be Wayne!" Anyway, it was a very pleasant conversation, it was clear to him that I was a big movie fan, and by the time I got home, there was a phone call, asking if I'd mind doing one scene in the movie [The Aviator].
It was a fabulous experience shooting [in the Aviator], working with Leo [DiCaprio] and Danny Huston in the scene. It was great. I think what was most eye-opening about it was that [Martin] Scorsese was just like any good director you work with.
[Martin Scorsese ] basically works just like any other director. You work the scene, you try to find what's best in it and make it work. That's what it was like.
Dr. Okun. Who's named after a special-effects guy named Jeff Okun, who had done Stargate for Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin, who did Independence Day. But "Brakish" just came up one day when Jeff Goldblum and I were improvising, and he told me his character's name and I told him mine.
I think that Enterprise was getting better and better, actually, and if it had kept going, I think it would've turned into as good a show as any other in the Star Trek franchise.
They were nicely written and nicely directed episodes [Star Trek: Enterprise]. I enjoyed working with Scott [Bakula]. So it was good to do, and, as you said, it did serve to enhance the Soong legacy.
I think Rick Berman just called me and asked me if I wanted to do the show [Star Trek: Enterprise], and he said they'd write an arc if I'd do it.
I don't know if the character's come back and it was someone else playing it, or maybe they never did it again. But I loved it. It was a great part [The Joker] to play.
The kid in the episode [of Tales From The Darkside ] was played by Christian Slater! He was all of about 12 or so, but I've run into Christian many times since then, and he always does his line from Tales From The Darkside whenever he sees me.
I really enjoyed Eddie Bracken. He told me a great story. He did The Odd Couple on Broadway, replacing Art Carney, and he said, "Art Carney did it for six months and I did it for three years, and I don't think anyone I've ever spoken to saw me. They all saw Art Carney."
I got to play a funny part [in the The Master Of Disguise]. There was one thing my character did that involved flatulence and laughing at the same time - that was in the script - and that was basically what sold me on it. I really thought, "This can't help but be funny." And when I saw the film, I was proud that I'd had those moments.
