Quotes from Paul Giamatti

Am I really cool? You're telling me I'm cool? Well, that's good to hear.

I worked with J. T. Walsh - it was one of the best experiences I ever had - a fantastic actor and a great guy. I was in the last movie that he did: 'The Negotiator.' He died a couple of months after that. He was great.

One of my favourite things growing up was 'Asterix', those books.

I consider myself an atheist. My wife is Jewish. And I'm fine with my son being raised as a Jew. He's learning Hebrew and is really into it. I will talk to my own son about my atheism when the time is right. But there's a great tradition of Jewish atheism, there are no better atheists in the world than the Jews.

I definitely have a tendency to only see the blemishes of things, and see lots of things about my acting that I don't like.

The supporting thing can be harder to pop in and out of. The hardest thing is the people who have to come in and play, say, the bartender for a day - that's a lot harder than playing the lead role. You have to pop in and get it right. It's a lot of pressure to just pop in there and fit in and find your footing really fast.

The problem with getting injured when you get older is that it takes longer to recover.

It'd be disingenuous to say I don't like attention - I'm an actor for God's sake - and it's flattering and all, but attention was never my big goal. I just like to work and have a good time.

I was a big 'Planet of The Apes' fan, so I was really excited about being in it. I had a really good time. I liked wearing all that stuff, and I liked playing the part.

Sometimes, I think I may be more recognizable because I'm character-looking.

I mean, I'm not going to play the hero of something.

I get tired of myself pretty fast.

Most conspiracies interest me because of the people who are into them, and the lengths they'll go to expose it or the evidence they think they have. All that stuff. There's just something so beautiful to me about people who sincerely believe we never went to the moon. It gives me so much joy.

Am I an anxious guy? I think I have been called upon as an actor a lot to access emotions like that. But I don't really think I am a big worrier. I don't see myself like that. But I guess other people do. Which is maybe worrying in itself.

I'd like to have permanent time off, really. The goal is financial security and permanent time off, basically.

'Capricorn One' just seemed like... wow. That was it, y'know? Nothing was ever going to be better than that movie.

I was never the class clown or put on shows at home. I never thought of acting as something I could do with my life. When I was a kid, I used to run around wrapped in toilet paper so I could be the Mummy. But that wasn't a sign that I was dreaming of being an actor. I was just an odd child.

My father died in 1989 before I knew what I was going to do with my life. I had just graduated from college. My mother died just before 'Sideways' came out. She knew I was an actor, but she never saw me become successful.

Acting can be a really silly thing. It's like playing dress-up.

I think one of the great things about acting is the instant gratification: you just get up and start being a part of the story. The immediacy is something you get really addicted to.

I was an English major at Yale, but I did do undergraduate theater there. And I went to the graduate school for acting.

Academia is a rarified culture, especially an Ivy League academic background.

I really do like a really good science fiction movie and a really good horror movie. Those are the kinds of things I really like. But, I mean, I'm not into sort of like slasher movies. I like a really good science fiction movie, which is hard to do. They don't make many really good ones any more.

With 'Duplicity', I was a little bit like, 'This isn't that hard of a movie.' This isn't like some huge brain trust of a movie. You gotta be a little bit awake to follow the plot, but it's really just a kind of light entertainment. It's like those Cary Grant movies, which are not meant to be anything other than diverting. In a nice way.