Things have got to add up to 100 points. The script is part of it, the character is part of it, the people I’m working with is the third part of it – and any combination of the three has got to add up to 100 points. – Alan Arkin
I don’t care about names attached to the script. That doesn’t matter to me. All things being equal, I would like to work with a good script with a good director, and the part I play is of less important than those two factors. – Alan Arkin
I love insane, stupid comedy, but I can only make it work if it’s a character I can give some history to and make real. Like the guy I played in ‘Little Miss Sunshine.’ He’s a maniac, but to me he was absolutely believable. – Alan Arkin
Education does not mean jamming information into somebody’s head. Rather, it’s that ancient idea that all knowledge is within us; to teach is to help somebody pull it out of themselves. – Alan Arkin
It’s not that there is a terrible morality in Hollywood. I think there isn’t any. There isn’t any, by and large. – Alan Arkin
A product is most easily sold when it has an identity. So they wrap you all up and put a label on you. And then that’s what you have to be. But what I’m looking for is the opportunity to explore what I can do, probing the limits, learning. – Alan Arkin
It’s murder to doubt yourself in life. It took until I was 45 to get to that point. As hard as it is in your work, it’s harder in your life. But it can be done. – Alan Arkin
I gotta make a living. I make no bones about that. Most actors do. But within that context, I’ve never not tried to make something as fresh and alive as I possibly could make it. – Alan Arkin
People think that the people in Hollywood have some master plan. They just make the movies that people go to see. I think it’s that simple. I promise you if people were lining up around the block to see a Bible movie, they’d make Bible movies from now to the end of time. – Alan Arkin
I don’t know why we have to put things in boxes of superlatives. That isolates them. Life is fluid, and the minute you start trying to put a line around something, it will deceive you and go away. – Alan Arkin
TV has taken reflection out of the human condition. People didn’t use to have a ready answer for everything, whether they knew something about it or not. People think they have to have an answer for everything because the guys on TV have an answer for everything. – Alan Arkin
I’m not sure if I’ve learned anything from show business. Life in general has taught me if you’re kind to people, everything gets easier. Being a decent person really smoothes the way for you and everyone else. – Alan Arkin
I wanted to make it in New York. I thought if I went out to the Midwest, I’d be burying myself. But I was wrong. – Alan Arkin
My favorite thing is to be working with people I enjoy working with. I’ve reached the point where, emotionally, I don’t need to act any more. Financially, I do. But emotionally, it wouldn’t matter to me if I never acted again. – Alan Arkin
I don’t like improvising on camera, particularly, but very often, a scene will not be working, and you rehearse it once or twice, and you realize something’s missing. So I’ll play with it until it makes sense. – Alan Arkin
Over the years, I played with a couple of spectacular guitar players, and playing with them has made me play better than I knew how to play. I hope the same thing is true with acting. – Alan Arkin
No matter how much time you spend reading books or following your intuition, you’re gonna screw it up. Fifty times. You can’t do parenting right. – Alan Arkin
My father was a painter. There was a lot of singing. We hung around with a lot of folk musicians. My family knew a lot of great folk musicians of the time, like Woody Guthrie, Paul Robeson, Leadbelly. They were all people we knew. – Alan Arkin
It’s – everybody’s looking at the bottom line all the time, and failure doesn’t look good on the bottom line, and yet you don’t learn anything without failing. – Alan Arkin
I had a hard time treating my field as if it’s horse racing, putting actors in competition against each other. I see how the industry and the studios feel it’s important, but I don’t really have a feeling for being in competition. I want to feel sympathetic and close to others, not opposed to them. – Alan Arkin
I’m an actor. My life as an actor depends on who sends me what. I’m just taking the best stuff that I can find that’s sent my way, regardless of how big or little the paycheck is. – Alan Arkin