Quotes from John Malkovich

Most filmmakers' entire body of knowledge is of other movies. When they describe things, they describe them in relation to other movies. That's why we have so many cyclical movies that look like other movies. But I'm not cynical. I even go to some of those movies.

I believe in humans.

I think I was born at a time when an American male had so many advantages and opportunities that weren't available to men before or after, just a very brief period.

Theater is so ephemeral, and I love that.

I probably have more female friends than any man I've ever met. What I like about them is that almost always they're generally mentally tougher, and they're better listeners, and they're more capable of surviving things.

I don't mind tracksuits. At the track.

I go around the world, working with all kinds of people who I love.

I love to watch good actors who surprise and amuse me.

I know fashion can be intensely goofy, but it is something I've always taken pretty seriously.

Sigmund Freud said we act out our own dreams, but if you are only an actor you are not acting out your own dream. You are simply participating in someone else's dream.

People get up, they go to work, they have their lives, but you'll never see the headlines say, 'Six billion people got along rather well today.' You'll have the headline about the 30 people who shot each other.

I'm not a very skeptical person.

There will be people who hate everything you do. And some people will really love it. But that's not really different from the people who really hate it.

I love Chicago, but in a lot of ways it's a disappointment. You can work there for years and years, and because you're in Chicago, you don't get the recognition. It has some of the best theater in the country, but when they shoot a movie there, they bring in all their actors.

I'm not a psychiatrist. I'm not treating patients.

I just start with a pencil and paper. I don't want something too trendy, too fashion-forward. I don't want to make something I consider a regular person couldn't wear with blue jeans. But I don't want to make something that other people make, either - like a skinny black suit in a shiny material that you can buy anywhere.

Art is not disposable. If you want it, you have to hold it and smell it and touch it and read the credits and enjoy it and put it on your wall.

I wouldn't describe myself as lacking in confidence, but I would just say that - the ghosts you chase you never catch.

Of course it's trivial, but then most things are.

Some directors expect you to do everything; write, be producer, psychiatrist. Some just want you to die in a tragic accident during the shooting so they can get the insurance.

You can't take a play someone has directed and do whatever you want with it.

I'm not a Method actor. I don't believe acting should be psychodrama. I look within myself and see what I can find to play the role with. If I'm playing a blind man, I don't go around blindfolded for days. A lot of good actors would, but I don't go in for that very much. I like to just make it up as I go along.

I am inspired by the appearance of a bohemian of the new millennium.

It's not a gift of mine, but one given to me, to be able to criticise myself and not be crushed, by myself or by others.