Quotes from Bill Pullman

That's how we invaded Iraq, through the fear of an 'evil empire,' and it just makes people feel like bulls with the toreadors - you see red, and you charge.

I've never really been a television watcher and watched comedies, and I have gotten a number of invitations to be on television as the dad.

Rural towns aren't always idyllic. It's easy to feel trapped and be aware of social hypocrisy.

I've been lucky to have opportunities with David Lynch in 'Lost Highway' and Jennifer Lynch in this movie 'Surveillance,' so I've always boomeranged around a little bit, and no one has caught my foot in the trap yet, but I think if I move fast enough... 'cos I think I got trapped a couple of times.

'The Last Seduction,' 'Sleepless in Seattle' and 'While You Were Sleeping' did a lot to get me noticed for bigger roles.

I did 'Malice,' 'Sommersby,' and 'Sleepless in Seattle,' and they're as disparate characters as I've ever played. But somehow, there was that thing - they were all second male leads, so they all didn't get the girl in some weird way.

I was the kid who would join a sports team and be the biggest liability at first and a star player by the time the game got going. I just move very slowly.

A lot of people just ask me about how I can do small budgets and big budgets, but many actors do both. I think the more self-destructive impulse I have is doing so many different characters.

I was 21, and rehearsing a play, took a fall and was in a coma for a few days. And when I recovered, I'd lost my sense of smell completely.

Well, I can do certain jobs because smells don't bother me. But that means I'm usually the one at the ranch cleaning up all the manure.

I love that vein which uses sci-fi to address society's problems. It is the same when you have useful nightmares - things morph, and you get to confront issues in your dreams.

With While You Were Sleeping, it was so much fun and such a Cinderella story, that I didn't want to do another romantic comedy. I wanted to do the opposite.

The writers are pretty political and they want to get as big an audience as they can - they want the popular vote.

I like to wear my dad's shoes to auditions as sort of a lucky thing. I feel like I'm on solid ground.

We've seen with Brexit and other things that there's a dark impulse to be petulant and frustrated with complicated solutions.

I've been lucky to be a part of many blockbuster movies... in which it's hard to get to that level of being memorable, but I still have fond memories of 'Independence Day,' to be sure. There are also many small ones I've had that give me many fond memories.

Truthfully, I almost avoided 'While You Were Sleeping,' because I find those romantic comedies kind of precious, and they're full of lines that leave you feeling a little bewildered when you say them.

I'm a very discriminating shoe shopper. I only look for something special. In fact, I don't think I've ever bought two pairs at the same time.

I always feel like there are a lot of different types of favourites. There are some that I look to for interesting things, some that I look to for acting things, others that I watch again and again.

I think I was born out of my time.

I've always been a fan of George C. Scott, who was working in movies when I was in college... films like 'Patton' and 'Hospital.' I was really impressed by him, and I had seen him onstage as well in 'Uncle Vanya.' He was a champ to me.

I think institutions that are bureaucratic often try to squeeze from the top down, and they don't have good results on the ground level.

Sometimes you fall into the niche of being the confidant guy, or the good-looking guy, or being too charactery, or not charactery enough.

There is something exciting when you see people who are very formal talking with each other, and there is a sense that they have chosen to be that way. There is something masked that is more interesting to me than just people who are intent on displaying their uniqueness or whatever.