Steve Buscemi Quotes

27 quotations by Steve Buscemi

With Animal Factory you'd think that because it's mostly interiors, you could shoot it anywhere. So we shot this in Philadelphia, and we had the cooperation of the prison system.

When I was in pre-production for Trees Lounge, I was hearing the cinematographer talking with the production designer about colours and this and that, and feeling like I was losing control.

What was frustrating about Armageddon was the time I spent not doing anything. It was a big special effects film, and I wasn't crazy about pretending I was in outer space. It feels ridiculous.

Trees Lounge is based on my own life. Both my parents like the movie. My father, of course, thinks it's a masterpiece.

They're not supposed to show prison films in prison. Especially ones that are about escaping.

Quentin was so passionate and enthusiastic about what he was doing that it touched us all. We really wanted to do a good job for him.

On big films there is a lot of pressure on the director, because they have so much money. The way I approach it as an actor is pretty much the same.

My real training as an actor was when I started doing theatre.

My greatest hope was to get discovered as a comedian and get on a sitcom.

My favorite review described me as the cinematic equivalent of junk mail. I don't know what that means, but it sounds like a dig.

My favorite review described me as the cinematic equivalent of junk mail.

It wasn't until my senior year in high school that I started acting.

It doesn't matter to me what the genre is.

In the beginning, it wasn't even a question of deciding I'm going to do independent film and not commercial films - I wasn't being offered any commercial films, and there wasn't an independent scene.

I'm terrible at story and structure, but I'm not so bad at writing dialogue.

I was very surprised that for a while I could only get cast as straight. It was that way for a few years.

I was going to buy a van and move to LA so I could secretly pursue acting without any of my friends knowing.

I usually get freaked out if I'm in a situation where a lot of people recognise me at once.

I talked with Quentin about where the character came from, and he told me Kansas City. I don't know how somebody talks from Kansas City, so I made him from New York.

I never made a daring rescue, which is the story people want to hear. I did go to my share of fires.

I don't tend to think of these characters as losers. I like the struggles that people have, people who are feeling like they don't fit into society, because I still sort of feel that way.

I don't really consider myself a writer. Trees Lounge was really hard for me to write. Right know it's more important to keep directing.

I didn't really like the aloneness of doing stand-up.

Directing television is really hard - it's so fast. You shoot an hour show in seven days.

Communication is the key, and it's one thing I had to learn-to talk to the actors. I was so involved with the visual and technical aspects that I would forget about the actors.

Anything you write, even if you have to start over, is valuable. I let the story write itself through the characters.

All these directors, and I would include the Coen brothers and Quentin, have a very unique vision of what they want. They listen to ideas and make people feel like everyone is making the film.