A biography for Tom Berengerhasn’t been written yet.
“I came in on the tail end of the old school of Hollywood.”
“Every other movie is one of those action things. I mean, 'Lost in Space'? A bunch of good actors running around shooting at special effects on a soundstage? I took my kids to see that and felt like I was on an acid trip.”
“My mother, sister and I watched through the windows as my father gambled.”
“There's a hysterical, tired sense of humor that comes after working 14 hours a day, six days a week. I like those things because they take the pressure off the constant stress.”
“Even my agents say, We don't know what this business is anymore.”
“I guess if I weren't an actor, I'd be a history professor.”
“Take characters that Nicholson or De Niro play: they're not always tough.”
“To people outside, they think, Gee, that's great. You get to go here and there. The other side of that is our expression, This is location, not vacation.”
“Rough Riders took 13 weeks to shoot, plus a week of training. The same guy trained us trained the cast in Platoon. Except, instead of radios, we used bugles to signal.”
“I don't think a director should have any kids. I don't even think it's good for your physical health. Even guys in their 30s look exhausted because directors never get enough sleep. What I do is stressful enough.”
“I feel more comfortable doing films with groups of guys. It's a lot easier for me. There's a difference with women: you can't take them to dinner every night and go crazy.”
“Debra Winger doesn't let anything interfere with her performance, which is the way it should be.”
“You can't think that you're playing a villain, or you'll end up with a cartoon. You have to think about him as a person and a hero.”
“I had already done a lot of research for Rough Riders, keeping notebooks and old photographs. Some of the books were antiques for that time period, with the covers falling off.”