Richard Jenkins

“I worked with Mike Nichols. First time I worked with Mike Nichols, I just really loved this man.”

“You find movies when you need them. They may not always be the best films, but they speak to you.”

“The truth is you only have yourself to offer. And when you come to that realization, it's terrifying, because you think it's probably not enough.”

“I don't consider myself a comedian, but you work with some comedians, and sometimes these guys are incredible on their feet - it's just amazing - and that's not what I do. But it's always fun, and I don't really care as long as the character is interesting.”

“When I was a kid, I loved horror films. I used to stay up on Saturday night to watch.”

“I always loved movies. I wanted to be in them! I always saw them and said, 'How do you do that?' It seemed like going to the moon. It was not a rational thought, but that's the only thing I wanted to do.”

“Sometimes you read things that people don't even notice in a performance, that you just are moved by or understand that this actor is really living his or her life on the screen. The first time I realized that was when I watched Brando in 'On the Waterfront.'”

“Losing a parent makes you realize how temporary everything is - you're looking through someone's whole life in a drawer, and they're very simply gone.”

“In college, I was teetering on the edge: Do I want to be an actor? Do I not want to be an actor? And then I saw Michael Caine in 'Alfie,' and I thought, 'Wow, that's what I want to do with my life,' even if I knew I'd never reach that level of proficiency.”

“There's a lot of jobs that you can do that you can be miserable at. Making movies should not be one of them.”

“If I'm playing a bad guy, and I'm playing him evilly - I'm making him evil; I'm being evil because I want the audience to understand that he's bad - or if I have a line that's funny, I do it in a comedic way, that, to me, is a lie. It's dead when I watch it.”

“I like relaxed sets. I like to feel that I can make a mistake without feeling like I'm costing somebody money. I like a sense of freedom. I like it when people are open and are willing to let you do your work.”

“There are so many things that go into a movie that it's amazing that anything gets made anyway.”

“When there is tension, arguments and money problems, it's tough to do your work. Some people thrive on that. I don't.”

“Rehearsal for film is tough. Until the camera's there, everything changes.”

“We all have movies for times in our lives when we really need something.”

“I like not knowing what's around the corner. It's always been that way, and maybe that's one of the reasons why I'm an actor.”

“'My character wouldn't do that.' That was always my favorite thing people say: 'My character wouldn't do that.' I said, 'Well, it says right here in this script your character does that.'”

“I understand being alone. I understand not liking it, wishing for something else.”

“A Western would be good. I'd love to do a Western.”