If any of you were readers of Movieline during its print heyday, you know it was the place for candid celebrity interviews (Just ask Jennifer Lopez!) and since we revived the Movieline mantle last year, we've strived to lived up to that legacy. When you read a Movieline interview, you won't just get the same old tired questions like "What was it like to work with George Clooney?" and "I know your promoting some tiny indie movie right now, but can we talk about your superhero flick instead?" Here, we hope it's a good conversation first and foremost, and when it is, actors and artists often drop their guard, offering things you'd never expect.
Here's just a sampling of some of the most intriguing, eye-opening, and just plain revealing quotes we've collected at interviews in the past year:
"People don't seem to recognize what good acting is. It's like Marty Scorsese getting an Oscar for The Departed -- I'm afraid the films before that were the great movies. I mean, Marty didn't need it. The Departed had already done well. It's great when smaller films win an award because then they've got recognition, but when big studio films get them, it's just a chance to make a bit more money."
Miley Cyrus on why she ditched Twitter:
"I just think it's kind of lame. I feel like I hang out with my friends and they're so busy taking pictures of what they're doing and putting them on Facebook that they're not really enjoying what they're doing. You're going to look back and have a million pictures, but you're not going to be in any of them. Because you're not having fun, you're too busy clicking away. So I think just enjoy the moment you're in, and stop telling people about it. Just enjoy it...I'm telling kids, don't go on the internet, it's dangerous, it's not fun, it wastes your life, and you should be outside playing sports or something."
Jesse Eisenberg on becoming a movie star, to his surprise:
"I never thought I'd be in a movie to begin with. Every time they cast me -- and I'm not just saying this out of false modesty or humbleness -- like, I'm so shocked every time I get into a movie. And then after the movie is done I think I've totally failed and ruined this interesting movie. The movie comes out and I'm just embarrassed about myself in it...I'm on a strong regimen of pills that will hopefully make it better."
"I'm not interested. To me it's like a form of Marilyn Manson. It's hard for me to talk about it; I've seen a couple of videos of hers, and not for very long. I stop watching them each time because I don't think there's melodies. I'm sorry to be negative. Like I'm not a big fan of Madonna. I respect her very much, but unfortunately the videos didn't help the music in the long run. Well, I guess it helped it to survive to the point where the video was irrelevant. So music has to find its own way, which is good for the music. It becomes smaller and more alive and it's not as crazy, except for some R&B. To me, it's just talking about the surface. I compare it to Marilyn Manson. The music to me is very expected. I don't think there's anything in the tone or the melody that makes me say, 'Oh, there's something going on.'"
"To be honest with you, every time I finish something -- look, I think of Bret as one of the nicest guys in the world. Honestly, one of the humblest, nicest guys in the world. But at the end of a thing like [shooting a season], I can't stand him, more than anyone else. I'm pretty sure it goes both ways. It's just a really intense thing to do. I'm sure there's lots of famous examples of that."
Francis Ford Coppola on the Godfather franchise:
"I don't think Godfather ever should have had more than one movie, actually. It was not a serial, it was a drama. The first movie wrapped up everything. To make more than one Godfather was just greed. Basically, making a movie costs so much money that they want it to be like Coca-Cola: you just make the same thing over and over again to make money, which is what they're doing now. But Godfather was not really a serial, you know? I mean, how would you spin off Hamlet?"
Thomas Jane on whether Hung has helped his sexual reputation:
"Thank God I'm married. Some of my single friends are envious. Personally I'm very happily married to one of the most beautiful women on the planet, Patricia Arquette. We've been together almost eight years and she still turns me on, and I couldn't be happier. It's a bit of a pain in the ass, to tell you the truth. People stare at my crotch and I have to tell them I'm up here. It becomes something of a 'meat' object. Before this Hung thing, I was very comfortable. I love my penis, and I always have. When you strap a label on yourself, you can never really live up to it. I swear to God I feel like I've gotten smaller since then."
Megan Mullally on Conan vs. Leno:
"I was driving home last night and thinking I miss Conan's face and his whole sensibility...Could it be any more bald-faced that [Leno is] going after the red states? It's insane. It's just right out there, full on. Amazing."
Scott Speedman on his career crossroads:
"Nothing is easy. It's never easy...I'm not out there doing talk shows, and I haven't really connected with that part of the business that's really important. I'm trying to get better at it, because I'm losing parts to people I shouldn't be losing parts to."
"General McChrystal is just one of several high-ranking figures who's never been called to account for his role, and the story continues to this very moment. He gets up there at his swearing-in and basically says what has been said all along, which is, 'I know what it looks like. I know that it looks like we deliberately covered it up, but believe us that it was this Rube Goldberg-esque chain of mistakes, blunders, and errors that look like a cover-up.' The only f***ing idiots who buy that, the only fools who believe that, are the mainstream press. It's just so clear to everyone else, and it's the equivalent of saying, 'Honey, I know that it looks like I'm f***ing your sister, but actually I dropped my wallet, and then my belt fell down, and she happened to be there.' That's what the military has done in the Pat Tillman case."
Adam Goldberg on his waning interest in acting:
"I feel very bizarre when I'm acting. I think things have just sort of changed for me over the last several years as my interests and passions began to sort of shift. I don't have a lot of actor friends -- anymore, anyway -- and I generally just feel like I'm posing as an actor, to be honest...The older I've gotten and the more that I've written and the more music stuff that I've done, acting has become an occupation. I really value my time not pretending to be something that I'm not, because as an actor, that's what you're constantly doing."
Dustin Milligan on his escape from 90210's mandatory manscaping:
"No one flat-out handed me a list of areas I needed to shave, but it was kind of assumed you would if there was visible chest hair. There were a few times I didn't bother, so my lower neck will be inconsistent from episode to episode on 90210: Sometimes there's hair creeping out, sometimes there's not. I guess I wasn't really sure about how to be the teen hunk guy. 'Hmm, everybody else seems to be shaving their chest. Maybe I have to do it, too?' I had to do it, but I didn't want to do it."
Kathryn Bigelow on whether she's more comfortable on a film set or off it:
"I thrive on production. I don't know if I thrive in normal life."
Johnny Simmons on the set dynamics of the upcoming Scott Pilgrim vs. the World:
"I didn't talk for the first month and a half. I get shy...I just basically sat there. It's like, 'OK, when are they gonna find out they screwed up and cast Logan Lerman or whoever?' It's sort of ridiculous. It's not insecurity, I just know there are so many talented people out there who are really good. I'm really lucky to be here."
Bai Ling on being underappreciated:
"I deserve so much more than the roles I get offered now. I'm one of the best actresses. One day I will win an Oscar. I'm already winning it. I just have to find the platform to show it. I'm already winning it! I've got that talent."