Quotes from Michael Madsen

I didn't have much ambition, but I always had an idea in the back of my mind that I wanted to act. I would watch actors like Robert Mitchum, Humphrey Bogart, and Kirk Douglas, and I understood them.

My big ambition was to be Richard Petty.

'L.A. Confidential' was written with me in mind, but Russell Crowe got the part. Go figure.

I swim a lot, almost every day. I just go out to the beach by my place in Malibu and jump into the ocean.

You get these horrifying straight-to-video things for very little money, then you go to the Cannes Film Festival, and they got some poster of you, 40 ft. high, in the worst movie in the world.

Your children don't have to fear you to respect you.

I've done two motorcycle pictures: I did 'Beyond The Law,' and I did one produced by Tarantino called 'Hell Ride,' with Dennis Hopper and David Carradine and Vinnie Jones. And I just think 'Hell Ride' was a lot more of what a biker movie should be. But the good part of 'Beyond The Law' was that I had a good time with Charlie Sheen.

Is it really selling out if it feeds your family?

I'm not a publicity hound. I don't care about being on the cover of 'GQ' or 'Vanity Fair.'

I'm glad I wasn't in 'Free Willy 3.' That's all I can say on that.

I've had a lot more good luck than bad, and I've made a lot more good pictures than bad ones, and I'm pretty happy with what I have. I don't walk around regretting too many things.

I don't know if there's anything sadder than an actor who hasn't made a good picture, and at least I got a few good ones that will stand the test of time. I feel very fortunate about that.

Maybe I was just born in the wrong era, man. I'm a bit of a throwback to the days of black and white movies. Those guys back then, they had a certain kind of directness about them. A lot of the screenplays, the plots were very simplistic - they gave rise to a type of anti-hero that maybe I suit better.

I used to be one of those guys with a lot of angst, you know? I just don't anymore. I'm not angst-ridden anymore. I've faced reality of what I am and what I have to do in life.

I can't surf, so I swim. It's the best workout I've ever known because it works your entire body.

I don't get the IMDb... I've called them several times myself and said, 'Guys, look... ' I've given them specific titles that should not be on there. But they won't take them down.

'BloodRayne' was an abomination... It's a horrifying and preposterous movie.

Well, one thing for sure, I won't be remembered for 'Free Willy.' Or maybe I will.

People have been afraid of me because of the parts I played. Nobody remembers that I was the dad in 'Free Willy.'

I probably made a few pictures I shouldn't have done, but I have four sons and I have to pay the rent. If you have a decision to make about whether or not you can buy groceries at the market or whether or not you're going to make a bad movie, you're going to make a bad movie.

Encourage your kids' artistic side. Toughen up everything else.

I wrote a poem on my leg once, on the skin.

What people don't always understand is that I established a certain lifestyle for my family back in the days of 'Species' and 'Mulholland Falls' and 'The Getaway.' I wasn't about to move my six kids into a trailer park. So when people offered me work, it wasn't always the best, but I had to buy groceries, and I had to put gas in the car.

I'm a leading man trapped in a bad guy's body.