Citations

(2007 - On what role stands out the most) There's absolutely no question that it's La tête dans les nuages (1993). I think of that as being my first real movie. Up until that point, I would get a job. It could be speaking barely - or not speaking, in the case of Designing Women (1986) - doing these little parts, and then I'd go back to my job at the bookstore. La tête dans les nuages (1993) sort of drew that line in the sand, where even though I didn't really make any money, I knew I could never go back into the bookstore, because it would seem strange. Beyond that sort of superficial, practical effect, I always feel bad for people who didn't have a first experience like that. I did that film with these kids, and a lot of them, it was their first time on location. It was definitely a fun movie, but it operated on so many levels, because there was the life outside the movie. It's this really abbreviated, condensed, high-octane equivalent of the college experience I essentially never had. And on another level, I think we all really felt that we were part of an incredibly unusual creative process, because it was a collaborative effort, and we were taken really seriously by Rich [Richard Linklater]. He's one of those guys that for years, I wished was directing everything I'd been in. And it's sort of bittersweet, because it's the thing that breaks your professional hymen, and you're always trying to recapture that spirit. But the nature of the business doesn't normally allow for such a creative atmosphere in what was essentially a studio movie.

(On making Déjà vu (2006)) A surprisingly collaborative experience, which I had very little expectation of, at least going in initially to meet [director] Tony Scott, who ends up being one of these guys who... I think it's an important lesson. You assume that these guys who are elder statesmen, in a sense, who are such visionaries, are just going to move you to your tape mark and pull your strings and then call "cut". But he solicited quite a lot of actor input, and there was a lot of scientific stuff that I became very, very involved in. I became really immersed in all this quantum-physics stuff, at least as much as my brain could process, which is fairly limited. My brain is a sieve when it comes to languages and science. And math. Anything exercising any sort of non-verbal skill. And I really enjoyed it. I was surprised, and Val [Kilmer] and I had a really nice time together. He's a hoot, so we were sort of like the bad kids on the set.

(On M. Samedi Soir (1992)) That was my first movie, I guess. Whatever I ended up saying in the movie, I believe, was cut out. I think there was a reaction shot left in. But the experience at the time - I was 21, and I was genuinely excited in a way that I don't think I was for very much after that, because I was filled with that sort of naive conviction that once the ball started rolling, there'd be no stopping it, and this business would be a cinch, and all these other things. It was my first real job. I mean, I had done some TV stuff, but it was within the first 18 months of having started working.

(On what he remembers most about making Il faut sauver le soldat Ryan (1998)) I suppose I mostly remember my death scene. Pretty much any time I'm beat up, or I beat up somebody, or I get killed, it ends up being a fairly memorable experience. That, again, was one of those cathartic things, dealing with an issue I tend to have a lot of problems wrapping my head around-that being mortality. It was definitely a really exciting day, a kind of fulfilling experience. Mainly I just remember being incredibly tired. The lines began to blur between what was real and what wasn't, which I think was certainly part of the idea of sticking us in a boot camp, and directly into shooting without a break. But it felt like a very noble experience, and you have very few of those. At least, I've had very few of those experiences, where you feel like you're really doing something important on a much larger scale than to satisfy your own creative needs and pocketbook.

(On making Comment perdre son mec en 10 jours (2003)) God, what do I remember from that? The hotel bar, really. I don't remember much. Making some money.

(On making Le zodiaque (2007)) Zodiac. Wow. Lots of takes. Lots of takes. Lots and lots and lots of takes. I worked very briefly on it, so the only recollection I really have is doing whatever it is you see me doing in that movie, hundreds of times. Working with the ghost of Stanley Kubrick, basically.

(2009 quote on being thought of as an indie actor) Oftentimes, I think it's funny, because I'll see a one-line thing if I get cast in something, it'll say, "Indie actor Adam Goldberg". When I think about the money I've made, most of it from television for many years, I hadn't really been in an actual independent movie. The first one I really did was my own film, Scotch and Milk (1998), which I made for $60,000. Even La tête dans les nuages (1993) wasn't an independent film, it was one of the first Gramercy Pictures releases. I've had experiences on really big movies - like Déjà vu (2006) - that, in many ways, felt more collaborative than some of the little movies that I've done. Tony Scott was this guy who happened to really love his crew and love his actors and love people's input, and even though I was just this cog in a wheel, I was in the presence of someone who approaches this thing in the manner you might expect an independent filmmaker would. The lines are being blurred.

(2009 quote) I feel very bizarre when I'm acting. I think things have just sort of changed for me over the last several years as my interests and passions began to sort of shift. I don't have a lot of actor friends - anymore, anyway - and I generally just feel like I'm posing as an actor, to be honest. I think some people are sort of born to do that and immerse themselves in it, and others aren't. When you find yourself straddling between those two worlds, I feel much more comfortable in reality, and I feel much more comfortable directing actors than experiencing it myself. The older I've gotten and the more that I've written and the more music stuff that I've done, acting has become an occupation. I really value my time not pretending to be something that I'm not, because as an actor, that's what you're constantly doing.