Quote collection
234 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"What we did [shooting "Fences"] was we got young students from Carnegie Mellon, the acting and theater students, and we had them as our understudies. I told them, "You have to be off book and be ready. If Viola [Davis] has to leave you have to jump in.""
"Taking the money from drug operations and all that sort of stuff is something that goes past what most of us in society would expect a policeman should do. That temptation hits the police force at the same time as the temptation to take those drugs that are readily available hits the people on the streets."
"When you make a movie it's always interesting, because you end up in places you never would as a normal visitor or tourist."
"I wasn't allowed to go to movies when I was kid; my father was a minister. 101 Dalmatians and King of Kings, that was the extent of it."
"It was never my dream to be famous. I didn't start acting to be a movie star. I started in the theater and my desire was to get better at my craft. It's still my desire. I don't consider myself a movie star, nor do I really have the desire to be one. I'm just an entertainer. An actor who works hard at his craft. Whatever labels people give me, that's not really me or part of my process."
"I try to encourage actors to work harder off screen because that's where you find things."
"I and haven't been unemployed for 20 years. I'm an exception to the rule."
"I think the bottom of the totem pole is African-American women, or women of colour. I think they get the least opportunities in Hollywood."
"Black or white good parts are hard to come by. A good actor with a good opportunity has a shot; without the opportunity it doesn't matter how good you are."
"One good thing about acting in film is that it's good therapy."
"Hate, hatred for yourself, for other people, will confine you, but love can set you free."
"We live in a time when people give up too easy."
"I just try to be honest and true to the character and play the part."
"Americans love to talk about the Constitution and how it protects the rights of every citizen and promises freedom to every citizen, but it's also a country based on racism and they don't talk about that too much and every time there's a film which deals with it there's certain parts of the country that feel uncomfortable."
"A part of me still says, 'Maybe, Denzel, you're supposed to preach. Maybe you're still compromising.' I've had an opportunity to play great men and, through their words, to preach. I take what talent I've been given seriously, and I want to use it for good."
"I'm selfish, I think. I think an artist has to be. I'm not worried about what people think. I play the parts that I find interesting. It'd bother me more to be just pigeonholed into doing what people think is ethical or that's boring to me. I don't pick parts with that in mind, I just find interesting stories. If it's interesting to me, then I do it."
"Sometimes when you're the good guy, you're sort of trapped. "Oh, he can't say that." And even when you're playing a real person like a Steven Biko, you're sort of stuck within those confines. So yeah, bad guys do have more fun."
"If you have an enemy, then learn and know your enemy, don't just be mad at him or her."
"You will never see a U-Haul behind a hearse."
"Hate put me in prison. Love's gonna bust me out."