Quotes from William Fichtner

I want to work every day. I don't work every day. When I finish something, people ask me, 'You gonna chill for a little while?' I'm like, 'No. I chill on Sunday afternoon.' I need to be engaged.

If I want to go to sleep, click on a procedural, put me right out.

It's not like I wake up and think, 'Oh God, I have to go to the gym.' It's just pretty much a given. I do cardio, light weights, and a good stretch, and I always try to get to the pool for at least a 15-minute swim.

I think that somewhere deep inside of me, I feel, if it's not something I believe in, then I probably won't be very good at it. And I have a fear of that. Not that I'm good in everything, but I try.

Here's the bottom line: I can't play someone if I can't figure out what he cares about. Everybody cares about something, even a rough character. It defines where we step in life. As soon as you find out what somebody cares about, then it all gets real.

If you can't get tax breaks, then there's no reason to film in a city or state.

Producers shoot movies where the tax incentives are.

When you work on a Jerry Bruckheimer film, you can be sure of two things: no production value will be spared, and the catering will be as fine as any really really good restaurant. Jerry is an amazing producer, with a commitment to his films second to none.

I just loved being around everybody. We just found a rhythm with each other that you want to get on everything you ever do in your life.

I've always loved hot rods and going to drag races.

When I get home, I clean out the garage and play ball with my son. That's it.

I never say, 'I only want to do things like this,' I am not that sort of actor. I don't have that grand plan - some do, but I don't - I am really a character guy.

I have no problem having any actor from anywhere play a role. I'm excited for any actor that gets a job, I truly am. Even if it's a role that I'm up for and I don't get it, I never begrudge any actor having it work out for them.

Saying, 'I'm going to hang up my hat today, and I'm retiring,' it's not a concept for me, and it never has been. I figure, when I'm 81, I'll play 81-year-old parts, hopefully.

Kim Coates is my best friend. I met Coatsy in 2001 in Morocco while working on 'Black Hawk Down.'

When I was younger, I never wanted to rehearse because I thought that someone would figure out I don't know what I'm doing. Now I like to really spend the time and figure it out, and rehearsal is to try something that doesn't work.

I'm a huge fan of actors, and I love when people find moments and a scene works. There's nothing more that I love than to go over to another actor and say, 'Yeah! You just rocked that one, baby!'

I'm not funny ha-ha, but I look for real humour in just about everything I've ever played.

Could you ever call me a 'leading man?' Not really. It's not that I don't want leading man roles, but there's only so many, and they want Tom Hanks, not me.

I've never been the actor who did one job, and everyone went, 'Wow!'

I had a '69 Road Runner when I was a kid. I had it for 13 days, came home one day, and my parents were in the driveway. They said, 'Meet the new owner,' because they'd gotten phone calls about me burning rubber for the last 12 days. They thought I'd wrap it around a tree, and it was too much car for a 16 year old.

The process of making an independent film is like building a mini Eiffel Tower with popsicle sticks - it doesn't happen overnight, and it's not easy.

What I truly get excited about is not the genre of a movie or the size of a part - it's character. I like to find characters.

Ridley Scott - not that he shared it a lot, but you can just see that everything he did, Ridley always seemed to be just so clear. I love that about him.