Dreams are the touchstones of our characters.

Grissom is a character who doesn't really want people poking around in his life. He likes to poke around in his work.

Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of acting: character acting and lead acting. And in my life, to begin with, in the 1980s, it was all character acting. And then when, by fluke, through 'Four Weddings', I got into doing lead parts, it's a completely different thing.

I prefer other people to make judgments about the way I play and to characterize me, rather me describe myself.

Most people outside of America won't get it. It's the Easter bunny. It's another lie and I don't understand why we had to invent this character.

It's fun when you start a movie because it's kind of like you get to go Christmas shopping... you get to make your wish list and you start thinking about what each character needs.

This is a work of fiction. All the characters in it human and otherwise are imaginary excepting only certain of the fairy folk whom it might be unwise to offend by casting doubts on their existence. Or lack thereof.

If you start to disrespect the character you're playing or play it too much for laughs that can work for a sketch it will sell some gags but it's all technique. It's like watching a juggler - you can be impressed by it but it's not going to touch you in any way.

Character is the indelible mark that determines the only true value of all people and all their work.

Individuality is founded in feeling and the recesses of feeling the darker blinder strata of character are the only places in the world in which we catch real fact in the making and directly perceive how events happen and how work is actually done.

Tommy Lee Jones is hilarious. I would say if you look at the body of his work the character he is most like is the one in 'The Fugitive.' That's how he talks and jokes. That is the type of energy he has.

Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves some turn up their noses and some don't turn up at all.

I'm so sick of hearing how there's no strong roles for women. I don't care about strong roles. I just want to see women who are characters! A nun a serial killer a housewife as long as there's some depth there.

I don't think that the feminist movement has done much for the characters of women.

I will not say that women have no character rather they have a new one every day.

It is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.

When written in Chinese the word 'crisis' is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.

A lot of people think I'm that guy in 'Betsy's Wedding' but I'm not. What it is for me is that on some level I connect with the character emotionally.

I love auditioning. Since 'The Notebook' and 'Wedding Crashers ' I don't have to audition anymore and I miss it. You get to show your interpretation of the character. I get nervous when I don't audition. What if they hate what I want to do?

A person's character is but half formed till after wedlock.

I'm actually reading 'World War Z' again! It's incredibly realistic and it's written as an oral history through interviews with different characters. Max Brooks wrote this book in so many different voices. There are about forty or so. It's incredible. When I finish 'World War Z' I'm going to go back and start again on the 'Game of Thrones' series.

With Vietnam the Iraq War so many American films about war are almost always from the American point of view. You almost never have a Middle Eastern character by name with a story.

Don't let your special character and values the secret that you know and no one else does the truth - don't let that get swallowed up by the great chewing complacency.

How I work is I work from of very character-driven place. And I trust the writers.