Jeff Daniels Quotes

I think we have the attention span of a gnat. You know, with cell phones and Twitter.

You see a lot of these movies that are really just 90-minute video games. The effects are incredible. I get it: There's an art to that, terrific. I'm not interested in it, but there's an art to that I suppose.

Every actor just wants good writing.

I'm the guy to call. Look at the resume. I have kids of my own. I have dogs.

One of the more noble things the Oscars can do is pay attention to movies no one knows about. Blockbusters don't need much help.

The indie world changed when the economy went south. I was frustrated with doing something, then waiting for it to come out, and sometimes it never did, or would just play in New York for 50 people. So I really wanted to try something else.

On cable now, the writer is king. Any actor chases that.

We're all capable of anything as human beings. Any emotion, any action. We really are.

There's not a single job in this town. There's nothin', nada, zip. Unless you wanna workforty hours a week.

I also write plays, so I understand the writers mind, and how obsessed you can get writing.

Comedy is hard to do. All the cliches about it are true.

Anytin' free, is wort savin' up fer.

On indies it's hard to do, but in rehearsals, you make mistakes in rehearsal. It's really hard rehearsing a play or what rehearsal you get on any movie. That's where you get to make your mistakes, and you make big ones. So when you shoot [the movie] or you finally get the play in shape and do it, the mistakes are out of the way. If you're not afraid to make mistakes, then there is no writer's block or actor's block.

Everything's a story, kid. Stories are what help us make sense of the world.

I love living in Michigan, which has been great for my kids and my family.

I learned a long time ago that the show you're going to see isn't the one you have in your head. As soon as you understand that, you're going to enjoy it a lot more.

Nothing seems to matter but ourselves. That's not how I was brought up. I don't recognize the country I live in anymore.

Meryl Streep's brilliant, just brilliant. I've been fortunate to do two movies with Meryl. And for an actor to go moment to moment like she does, there's no one better. And she dances between moments. Each take is different because she's riding instincts, she's riding impulses. And she trusts that.

I have done all of the genres, and the dramatic role is my favorite.

I know there are people, if I go into a market or a city for the first time, there are people that are there that just want to see the famous person, or the guy from 'Dumb and Dumber' or whatever movie they liked. And that's fine, it gets them in the door, but then it's my job to give them something different.

And that's one thing that helps me is I learn it blandly, vanilla, then I don't try to act it too soon because you start to act it, and you kind of go away from what the next sentence is, what the next paragraph is. So get it down so it kind of can - it's in there so you can then, as I call it, dance on top of it.

Television in the last few years has been where all the great writers are going. TV now is what indie film used to be.

There are so many projects that you go into hoping the story works, and here comes a new third act and that kind of thing.

I think it's a style of acting that you trust. You trust the instincts.

I think Michigan keeps you sane and on an even keel through the ups and downs. In Michigan, I do fireworks, shovel snow and live life.

The older you get, and the more you're in this business, the more you kind of feel like, 'Why don't we just do it my way?'

I never starved. And you know, whatever talent I have, I've relied on that, versus image or star. I have just said, 'Hire me if you want somebody good.' I tried to be as good as I could be every time out, and that's kind of bridged the decades.

I don't watch dailies. I don't pretend not to read reviews, I just don't. I wait for it to come on the air, just like everybody else.

There is no best anything in art. Phillip [Hoffman] isn't better than Heath [Ledger]; Joaquin [Phoenix] isn't better than David [Strathairn] or Terence [Howard]. They aren't better than me. We all do different things. It's more of a celebration of a lot of great work than to give the gold to somebody. The underappreciated factor certainly has gone away.

I never said, 'I'm going to be a big star.' I said, 'I'm going to be a good actor.' And that took the pressure off.

I was haunted by trainers going "Up, up, up, get up." You find yourself picking your head up and then realizing, They aren't talking to me.

And the actors tend not to want to watch themselves very often. I'm one of those guys.

I know I'm not bipolar or schizophrenic, but this career allows you to explore, to take some facets of yourself and spin it.

I love the theater, but if I had to choose, I would choose a film at this time in my life. Something meaty, to sink my teeth into.

You know, it's really strange now with the Internet, with everyone having an unsolicited, anonymous opinion.

Well, the music industry is littered with actors who belatedly came to singing.