Quotes from Val Kilmer

It's the persona that makes you a leading actor. A leading actor has something extra that's fun to watch. But it isn't usually about acting.

Peter Sellers was just a brilliant actor, and also comedic.

Hollywood's like a warehouse. It's just a place that you go. What's interesting in the warehouse has to do with the creative people.

Warner Bros offered me the next Batman, and the only reason that I didn't do it was because of The Saint.

Warren Beatty once told me that if someone's really stuck on you, find them their next boyfriend. But I could never do that.

I'm very wary of news on television.

The Secret Service is a strange group. They don't really have a leader. It's not set up like a military. Each one is supposed to be able to act like a leader when something comes up.

I'm a character actor, but I look like a leading man.

Big movies are fun and it's great to fly on private jets and make a lot of money and all the things that are connected with Hollywood, but they take a lot of your own life.

Being creative and making money in the theater is very challenging.

We take what's shown on television as the truth, and it isn't. News isn't even the truth on television. If you look up the definition of what news is, it isn't that what we're watching on the new - it's entertainment.

When you're young, you're always concerned about how you're being seen and how you're being criticized.

There are lots of actors who are awful people, but nobody talks about them being awful because they've made billions.

I respect people who can do both careers, like Will Smith and a couple of other people who have done it, but I just don't know when they sleep.

It is a weird thing that actors have people applaud when they're done working. I still find that entertaining.

It's a really weird thing, modern divorce. I found out I was getting divorced on television. That was kind of weird.

I've been very fortunate and met the guys that have become, basically, philosophers and have a kind of sensibility about life that's very precious.

With legitimate journalists I've always had a great time - I've never gone out of my way to court the press. That's probably cost me some money, but I've always had the respect of my peers.

I would probably do anything with David Mamet. He's so great. I just love his writing.

A wonderful but kind of a terrible truth about acting is that you actually get to a point where you become content with an impossible task: it is really impossible to properly prepare. You kind of have to start over every time.

There is no normal life, there's just life. You live it.

Unless a Western's made money - doesn't matter who made the money, doesn't matter what the subject is - if the last one didn't make any money, you can't make another one for a four-year period. Westerns more than any genre.

Without deadlines and restrictions I just tend to become preoccupied with other things.

Art is a way to get strength from something that is life-affirming. It can be quite violent and still be life-affirming.