Steve Buscemi Said

All these directors, and I would include the Coen brothers and Quentin, have a very unique vision of what they want. They listen to ideas and make people feel like everyone is making the film.
Steve Buscemi

Anything you write, even if you have to start over, is valuable. I let the story write itself through the characters.
Steve Buscemi

Bob Altman had this relaxed but serious attitude. Everybody loved him. I wanted him to adopt me.
Steve Buscemi

Communication is the key, and it's one thing I had to learn-to talk to the actors. I was so involved with the visual and technical aspects that I would forget about the actors.
Steve Buscemi

Directing television is really hard - it's so fast. You shoot an hour show in seven days.
Steve Buscemi

I did stand-up. I loved George Carlin and Steve Martin.
Steve Buscemi

I didn't really like the aloneness of doing stand-up.
Steve Buscemi

I didn't think I'd ever be able to do movies. That was for serious actors.
Steve Buscemi

I don't really consider myself a writer. Trees Lounge was really hard for me to write. Right know it's more important to keep directing.
Steve Buscemi

I don't tend to think of these characters as losers. I like the struggles that people have, people who are feeling like they don't fit into society, because I still sort of feel that way.
Steve Buscemi

I never made a daring rescue, which is the story people want to hear. I did go to my share of fires.
Steve Buscemi

I talked with Quentin about where the character came from, and he told me Kansas City. I don't know how somebody talks from Kansas City, so I made him from New York.
Steve Buscemi

I think all comics borrow from each other. Only a few have an original voice, and I wasn't one of them. In the end, I couldn't figure out who to steal from, so I stopped doing it.
Steve Buscemi

I usually get freaked out if I'm in a situation where a lot of people recognise me at once.
Steve Buscemi

I was going to buy a van and move to LA so I could secretly pursue acting without any of my friends knowing.
Steve Buscemi

I was very surprised that for a while I could only get cast as straight. It was that way for a few years.
Steve Buscemi

I'm terrible at story and structure, but I'm not so bad at writing dialogue.
Steve Buscemi

In the beginning, it wasn't even a question of deciding I'm going to do independent film and not commercial films - I wasn't being offered any commercial films, and there wasn't an independent scene.
Steve Buscemi

It doesn't matter so much where the material comes from, as long as it's good.
Steve Buscemi

It doesn't matter to me what the genre is.
Steve Buscemi

It doesn't matter what part I play, I try and commit myself 100 percent.
Steve Buscemi

It wasn't until my senior year in high school that I started acting.
Steve Buscemi

My favorite review described me as the cinematic equivalent of junk mail.
Steve Buscemi

My favorite review described me as the cinematic equivalent of junk mail. I don't know what that means, but it sounds like a dig.
Steve Buscemi

My greatest hope was to get discovered as a comedian and get on a sitcom.
Steve Buscemi

My real training as an actor was when I started doing theatre.
Steve Buscemi

On big films there is a lot of pressure on the director, because they have so much money. The way I approach it as an actor is pretty much the same.
Steve Buscemi

Quentin was so passionate and enthusiastic about what he was doing that it touched us all. We really wanted to do a good job for him.
Steve Buscemi

The director I had most involvement with was Alex Rockwell. He gave me a lot of responsibility as an actor.
Steve Buscemi

The first movie I had a featured role in was Parting Glances.
Steve Buscemi

The trend now is to shoot in Canada because it's cheaper, and they don't care what the location is.
Steve Buscemi

They're not supposed to show prison films in prison. Especially ones that are about escaping.
Steve Buscemi

Trees Lounge is based on my own life. Both my parents like the movie. My father, of course, thinks it's a masterpiece.
Steve Buscemi

What was frustrating about Armageddon was the time I spent not doing anything. It was a big special effects film, and I wasn't crazy about pretending I was in outer space. It feels ridiculous.
Steve Buscemi

When I was in pre-production for Trees Lounge, I was hearing the cinematographer talking with the production designer about colours and this and that, and feeling like I was losing control.
Steve Buscemi

With Animal Factory you'd think that because it's mostly interiors, you could shoot it anywhere. So we shot this in Philadelphia, and we had the cooperation of the prison system.
Steve Buscemi