Matt Dillon Quotations

I grew up with the white picket fence. My dad went to work nine to five, and he had a station wagon.

It was being young and sensitive and an actor. There was a lot of pressure, everything was a hurdle.

From a Dowling standpoint, what's happened there over the past three years is Dowling just hasn't had the size and the strength and the people up front to compete with what Valley's putting out there,

Certainly, I don't think many making the film would have anticipated I'd end up getting nominated or that it would be nominated for best picture.

But when I go really far back in time, to the days when everyone was dying of cholera and syphilis and bubonic plague, I want nothing to do with those periods. I mean, nobody showered. That's why perfume became such a popular item.

To start with I have family in New York. That's really important to me. But New York is also an endless well of inspiration. Ideas come to me in New York. I'm drawn toward reality, authenticity. I find that more in New York than anywhere.

I wanted to go classic this time, so I thought, 'What would Sinatra do?

There was a bit of a backlash against Francis at that point,

I'm the happiest for the kids and the assistant coaches because they've been working their tails off and it paid off. It feels great.

I just don't know how anyone on the western half of the state can compete with them.

It was honest and truthful to what I believed was an L.A. cop, not typical of what every cop is. It went and explored these two extremes ... bitter racist cop and really loving son who cares about his sick father. These are the complicated things we see in life.

You can take the car out of the junkyard, but you can't take the junkyard out of the car,

We turned the ball over a bunch the first five games and (Friday) we only turned the ball over once, and it wasn't in our own territory,

There were certain perceptions that people had of me, you know...'He's dumb,' or 'he's just got a pretty face,' or 'he's a thug,' or 'he can only do one thing.' I'm not so concerned with that now. Longevity's what it's about.

I know this sounds kind of crazy, but I think we're all actors.

I only hear my own voice. When you start hearing other voices, then it's time to worry.

One of my greatest fears is not being able to change, to be caught in a never-ending cycle of sameness. Growth is so important.

One of my biggest fears is not being able to break out of a rut; of becoming a prisoner to my ways, unable to change course. But in my mid-thirties, I learned you can change your thinking.

Love is messy. It's not something that's real clean.

When I was twenty-two it was a lot harder to get hurt by women. It was easier for me to, you know, cheat on a girlfriend. I can't lie like that anymore.

I don't know why, but I like the saxophone.

The great, rewarding thing about directing is that you're overseeing the whole thing. When you're an actor, you're just one department.

I used to make fun of the kids in school who acted or went to dance class.

I'm not a Buddhist, or a card-carrying member of any religion.

I had acting teachers, and one of the things that was encouraged was to keep it fresh, to be spontaneous. That's the magic of film often.

I think anytime you can do something you haven't seen or done in a film before, it's always a great day as an actor.

I like to do comedy, but I'll be perfectly honest, I prefer to do drama and more character-driven-based stuff, generally.

It's really nice to be able to do something that you've never done. I think that's the gift of being an actor because I get to play a cop, a racist cop and I've never done that before. It's nice to inhabit these other worlds especially when you get to work with great actors.

I don't like movies where everything happens fast. I like the buildup, the obstacles, the mystery.

As an actor, you can't be off the market for too long.

Acting is very competitive. There are few good scripts out there and the ones that are good are very competitive. You look at your options and often times they're not too appealing.

Obviously all religions get corrupted by man. The initial ideas are interesting but once they get organized they seem to become about politics and other things and they get misinterpreted. . . . Have faith but do the work. Live your life right. Dont expect things to happen. Thats why Im put off by magical realism.

The growing pains of ... being an actor, that was a little frustrating at times because you feel like you have great capacity to do many things. And yet there seems to be a misunderstanding about who you are and what you're trying to do. And that requires patience, and people eventually will understand.

I look for really great characters. I say great because as long as they're really good, there's something you can do. And really good storytelling. And when people ask me what the story is, I say it's really several stories really. They're intermeshed.

Racism was just a tool to deal with frustration and pain and that people are in denial about the way we feel and desperately trying to control their environment the way their lives are. And ultimately their scapegoats aren't going to make them feel better, it's just going to increase hatred and the problem gets worse and worse.

I think the reason I've survived that long is because I've taken my work so seriously. Maybe sometimes too seriously, but it's always been important for me to do my best regardless of the film. I think the biggest compliment I get is when people on the street stop me and say they've liked the choices I've made.

Well I can tell you that for me generally speaking that I think things that I deal with are all to do with not accepting things, not excepting life on life's terms. My life becomes a lot easier when I'm willing to just accept. I don't have to like circumstances as they are, but I have to accept them and that's where I always seem to get thrown, when I try to will my way instead of accept things the way they are.

It's tough when you started out as young as I did to look back and see how far I've come. I try to be easy on myself and go 'Look man, you were younger, you were learning; you learn, you grow.' But I'm not my best judge. I always feel like my best work is still ahead of me.

I have always wanted to play different kinds of stuff, but it's hard, first to find good material, and then to change people's perception of you so they'll let you do it. I mean, I would really like to play a poet, but once they get this notion of you as a street guy, it's hard to change that.

I like conflict, drama's conflict and if you don't have that in the character it's really not a worthwhile role to play for me.

It seems like a cliche, but you do grow up a lot faster when you travel a lot, go through things like this interview, spend time away from home and hang around with other actors. It's inevitable that you're not going to have a so-called normal childhood.

I think a lot of directors, they come out of film school, they don't know anything about acting. Or they're writers that don't know anything about the process. And I think they're afraid sometimes to talk to actors and be honest with actors.

I sometimes think love is God's way of hoodwinking people into having kids. You fall in love, and all that passion goes into procreating and wanting children. I've felt that need to want to raise a child. It's a creative urge. But you can express that creative urge in other ways.

These are people who haven't gone through the legal means to becoming citizens like our forefathers did. They want all the benefits but none of the responsibilities.

Actors don't generally go asking other actors for advice too much, but I'll take suggestions wherever I can.

I don't consider myself a Hollywood liberal, but I have my convictions and my beliefs.

I don't like to give out advice. I make suggestions when I get to know somebody a little bit, but I don't know about advice.

I don't worry about whether a character is likable, as long as the character is believable.

I don't hide out. If you build a wall around yourself, it draws people to invade it. Fear is the enemy.

I'm not the greatest boyfriend, but I'm not a creep. It's more like I'm... absent-minded.

In politics there are so many holes, so many contradictions, you don't know what's happening.

It's a pretty good job being an actor, but it's work sometimes. And when I say work, I mean it's a job. You're going to a job.

My driving, I've been accused of not being the best, most safest driver.

Of course, if you're gonna make movies, you gotta make movies, and I'm not gonna say no to a good role.

The first music I was ever exposed to was Irish folk music, like the Clancy Brothers. My father plays that and Christmas songs.

I do get bottled up in interviews. You're thinking about what you're saying, and suddenly you get all tangled. So people think I'm sullen, or that I don't have much to say. But my friends will tell you: a lot of times I talk too much.

I'm drawn to women who live in a world different from my own. I don't believe you have to marry someone from your own backyard. James Joyce married a woman who never read any of his books.

The worst thing I could be accused of is that I'm a one-way dude, only out for myself. But the worst thing a woman can do is not to say anything. Especially when you're starting a relationship.

It's important to air your concerns and fears with someone you trust. When you're honest about how you can change and grow, and where your weaknesses are, then you open the door for improvement and change.