Top 22 Richard Jenkins Quotes

When I was a kid, I loved horror films. I used to stay up on Saturday night to watch.

We all have movies for times in our lives when we really need something.

When there is tension, arguments and money problems, it’s tough to do your work. Some people thrive on that. I don’t.

Losing a parent makes you realize how temporary everything is – you’re looking through someone‘s whole life in a drawer, and they’re very simply gone.

But I loved making ‘Eat Pray Love,’ and I loved working with Julia Roberts.

The truth is you only have yourself to offer. And when you come to that realization, it’s terrifying, because you think it’s probably not enough.

Rehearsal for film is tough. Until the camera‘s there, everything changes.

It’s like, in movies where you talk to the audience 90 percent of the time, it’s – you kind of want to stay away from that stuff. But, you know – but to write exposition brilliantly is hard.

I always loved movies. I wanted to be in them! I always saw them and said, ‘How do you do that?’ It seemed like going to the moon. It was not a rational thought, but that’s the only thing I wanted to do.

I don’t consider myself a comedian, but you work with some comedians, and sometimes these guys are incredible on their feet – it’s just amazing – and that’s not what I do. But it’s always fun, and I don’t really care as long as the character is interesting.

There are so many things that go into a movie that it’s amazing that anything gets made anyway.

There’s nothing like walking onto a Hollywood sound stage.

I don’t watch the dailies. You want to just turn in your resignation when you watch the dailies.

I can’t think of a lot of bad directors I’ve worked with, really.

I like relaxed sets. I like to feel that I can make a mistake without feeling like I’m costing somebody money. I like a sense of freedom. I like it when people are open and are willing to let you do your work.

If I’m playing a bad guy, and I’m playing him evilly – I’m making him evil; I’m being evil because I want the audience to understand that he’s bad – or if I have a line that’s funny, I do it in a comedic way, that, to me, is a lie. It’s dead when I watch it.

Sometimes, I can read a great script, and I don’t like the part, or I don’t think I’m right for it. I mean, there are times I’ve read really great parts and think there’s so many other actors who could do this better than me. And I just say no to it.

I was an only child, and I spent a lot of time alone. My dad was an only child, too, so we didn’t have a big family, and I was really close with both of my parents. Like any kid, I thought I knew more than they did.

I worked with Mike Nichols. First time I worked with Mike Nichols, I just really loved this man.

You find movies when you need them. They may not always be the best films, but they speak to you.

I love it when a director says, ‘I don’t know.’

Sometimes you read things that people don’t even notice in a performance, that you just are moved by or understand that this actor is really living his or her life on the screen. The first time I realized that was when I watched Brando in ‘On the Waterfront.’