Quotes from Paul Giamatti

I find that the crazy narcissists, the selfish loons are often the most fun to be around, weirdly.

I've never not been proud of the work I was doing; I have nothing I have any shame about.

Well, you know, when people say stuff about you, it's always really flattering. But does it mean anything to me? It's not really real to me; there's no reality to it.

I remember when I was at the first showing of 'John Dies at the End' at Sundance, and I was talking to some of the people in the standby crowd who were outside and didn't have tickets. They were just waiting in line to see if they could get in. It was this whole gang of die-hard sci-fi wacko people, and they were just fantastic.

It is because my dad died suddenly that I became an actor. I thought, I'm going to make money doing this thing I enjoy.

I was more used to acting onstage, for a long time. I don't know, maybe I was temperamentally more suited to stage stuff. And there are things about the stage that I miss in a lot of ways.

The 'Planet of the Apes' movies made me wanna - probably unconsciously - be an actor. Seriously. And The Mummy - and 'Hammer horror' movies. 'Fantastic.' I loved stuff like that, and that stuff probably did more than anything to make me wanna do it.

Growing up, I didn't know where I was headed, except to the grave or maybe to the gutter. I went through wanting to do a lot of things, but acting wasn't one of them.

Lead roles are fun, but I'm especially happy other, more colorful supporting stuff has come along.

I would probably choose supporting roles if I had to make a choice. It's actually a really hard thing to say. It's all on a role-by-role basis, ultimately. I shouldn't be so quick to say that. I feel like you're given greater license to be colorful and eccentric in supporting roles, and that's interesting to me.

I don't consider myself a very interesting person. I have the mentality of a supporting actor.

I have the mentality of a supporting actor.

Honestly, I never wanted to be more than a good supporting actor. Really, I enjoy it.

I'm not a big wine guy. And bars, I never go to bars anymore. It's such a drag, man.

Come on, man.... Hemingway, Sexton, Plath, Woolf. You can't kill yourself before you're even published.

I always would be happy to make a character even more unlikable, but you know, there's a limit and if you go there, you get into a very different kind of movie, man.

I don't think I gave a good enough performance to be nominated for it. I thought I gave a fine performance, but those things are supposed to be about giving an extraordinary performance.

There is something pleasurable for an actor to produce something and not be in it.

I'm clearly not Brad Pitt, and I'm never going to be Brad Pitt.

I've very critical of myself, and film has been an adjustment for me.

In a weird way, I like to find the quirkiness in ordinary things. I like to find what is ordinary in quirky people.

I like playing weird, kind of shady people.

Now, actors get so familiarized with Eastern Europe. I never imagined I'd get as familiar with Budapest and Prague and places like that in my life.

I wanted to play Zapruder, as he is a man you really don't know much about: a faceless, anonymous figure.