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The Great Gatsby
Hamlet

Free Literature Study Guides
The Great Gatsby
Hamlet

John Malkovich Quotes

I’m more comfortable with whatever’s wrong with me than my father was whenever he felt he failed or didn’t measure up to the standard he set.

– John Malkovich

You have to play your characters, not like them.

– John Malkovich

Most films, it doesn’t matter if you see them or not.

– John Malkovich

I am inspired by the appearance of a bohemian of the new millennium. I thought it was necessary to update the figure of the bohemian, but not in the traditional way.

– John Malkovich

Where women are concerned, the rule is never to go out with anyone better dressed than you.

– John Malkovich

Sigmund Freud said we act out our own dreams, but if you are only an actor you are not acting out your own dream. You are simply participating in someone else’s dream.

– John Malkovich

I always liked clothes; since I was very, very young, I was interested. I studied costume as part of my theatre education.

– John Malkovich

I only have two rules for my newly born daughter: she will dress well and never have sex.

– John Malkovich

I’d hate to see any film I’m involved in fail, especially artistically but also business-wise.

– John Malkovich

It never occurred to me to be an actor.

– John Malkovich

I was never a fanatical movie person.

– John Malkovich

I’m not a very skeptical person.

– John Malkovich

I think I was born at a time when an American male had so many advantages and opportunities that weren’t available to men before or after, just a very brief period.

– John Malkovich

You have to do things people see or you don’t get to do anything.

– John Malkovich

Utopia means elsewhere.

– John Malkovich

I don’t mind what I play, really.

– John Malkovich

I’m a little bit phobic about stains on my clothes, so I never travel without a little packet of organic stain remover.

– John Malkovich

I don’t want a trillion-dollar empire to run.

– John Malkovich

I think 1973 was the nadir of fashion. When you watch the coverage from that era, you’re struck by the astonishing ugliness of the clothes.

– John Malkovich

You can’t work in the movies. Movies are all about lighting. Very few filmmakers will concentrate on the story. You get very little rehearsal time, so anything you do onscreen is a kind of speed painting.

– John Malkovich

I’m very much a typical midwesterner, and I don’t think the condition is curable.

– John Malkovich

I think with actors, if you just don’t set about trying to crush their confidence immediately, you’re usually OK.

– John Malkovich

I’m supposed to be a pretty good theater actor.

– John Malkovich

I’m not a Method actor. I don’t believe acting should be psychodrama. I look within myself and see what I can find to play the role with. If I’m playing a blind man, I don’t go around blindfolded for days. A lot of good actors would, but I don’t go in for that very much. I like to just make it up as I go along.

– John Malkovich

I wouldn’t say anything I ever did in film would be something I’d use the word proud about. I’ve done better work in the theater.

– John Malkovich

You can’t take a play someone has directed and do whatever you want with it.

– John Malkovich

I still have a temper, I suppose.

– John Malkovich

I brought my first fall/winter line to New York, and it was confiscated by U.S. Customs. They asked, ‘What is the value of this?’ I said, ‘I’m not so good with existential questions.’

– John Malkovich

I was a very good baseball and football player, but my father always told me I was much more interested in how I looked playing baseball or football than in actually playing. There’s great truth in that.

– John Malkovich

I’m not a control maniac.

– John Malkovich

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