Peter Riegert Quotes

I got to learn from the American audience. Hearing what it is they're not getting. These are audiences, 35 to 40, an older demographic that controls seven to 10 trillion dollars. And the producers and distributors have convinced themselves this group doesn't go to the movies.

Obviously, any time you're closer in terms of what your knowledge is to a character, you can add something. But an actor's job is not to play only people he can identify with.

There is a temptation for an actor to editorialize what they're doing. And you can't do that with Pinter. It's almost like a musical score. His lines are so specific, but they can mean different things to different people, like an alternating current.

I've learned there is a void in adult stories across the land. Hollywood, whatever that is anymore, is losing their ability to tell those stories because they're not even thinking of that audience.

There are times when you have to fight for something you believe in, that you love.

A movie is a filmed rehearsal in a way. The audience doesn't know that because you're taking out the things that don't work. There's no comparison to the theater because it's live. But making a movie is just as challenging and exciting, I find. A movie is pure process. The theater is the result of process.

In 1962, the smallest things were upsetting to authority. It wasn't the Civil Rights Movement. It wasn't the Anti-war Movement. It was something else, but it was a harbinger of what was to come.

In 2000, I realized I had reached that certain age when the parts get scarcer. So I decided to try my hand at directing.

Sometimes you make a connection with a writer or a piece of material, and there's not much to ask.

There are movies I've seen or books I've read that attach themselves in a way that's greater than the ability to understand why. How do you explain that kind of connectedness?

When you get older, unless you're a huge star, the parts become less and the competition becomes greater. Because the guys left standing are the best.

I did 'Animal House' in 1978, then 'Local Hero' in 1983, and then in '88, 'Crossing Delancey.' And I realized that every three to five years, you need a big role to put you into the national psyche.

Ease is something that I think many admire in other people, in sports or whatever it may be.

You rely on a lot of things about learning to play a particular character.

You realize Shakespeare wasn't stuck for an idea when he said, 'All the world's a stage.'

I apply the three gag rule, which is if I can read a script without gagging more than three times, then maybe I can say yes to this job.