Quotes

[2003, in "Ain't It Cool News", on contemporary movies] People watch movies--and it's vague ideas, it's vague notions, but people pick up on these things, that they are supposed to think certain ways or that they're not supposed to think, basically, and they don't. And then it's like, if you do any thing that's thoughtful, they think, "Oh, that's weird . . .".

[2002, in New York Press] Realism is always subjective in film. There's no such thing as cinema verite. The only true cinema verite would be what Andy Warhol did with his film about the Empire State Building [Empire (1964)]--eight hours or so from one angle, and even then it's not really cinema verite, because you aren't actually there. As soon as anybody puts anything on film, it automatically has a point of view, and it's somebody else's point of view, and it's impossible for it to be yours.

The United States has its own propaganda, but it's very effective because people don't realize that it's propaganda. And it's subtle, but it's actually a much stronger propaganda machine than the Nazis had but it's funded in a different way. With the Nazis it was funded by the government, but in the United States, it's funded by corporations and corporations only want things to happen that will make people want to buy stuff. So whatever that is, then that is considered okay and good, but that doesn't necessarily mean it really serves people's thinking--it can stupefy and make not very good things happen.

[on absence of counter-cultural film] There's a healthiness to having something that people some people are taken aback a little, because what that means is that there's a discussion going on, and when there's nothing that's being taken aback, nobody's surprised, nobody's being tested or challenged, then there's no learning process going on, and it makes for a stupefied culture, and I think that's happening.

In the past, I've never tried to discount or stop what people are saying because on some levels I find it interesting. But if I look on the Internet or in news chat groups, I tend to read, "Oh, that guy's crazy, that guy's nuts. He's insane or psychotic." At a certain point, it does get a bit like, "I'm not. Really." Look, I one-hundred percent admit and in fact implore people to understand that, yes, I am very interested in countercultural things. But there's a difference between having artistic interests and being psychotic. That's more than a fine line of differentiation, and I do see that a bit too much.

[on being called eccentric] Eccentric doesn't bother me. "Eccentric" being a poetic interpretation of a mathematical term meaning something that doesn't follow the lines--that's okay.

I think what eccentricity can represent in terms of the fear it engenders is a challenge to what is already considered right or good by people who have invested a certain amount into their life and livelihood that is not eccentric, but centric. If there's a challenge to that, that can make people concerned that either what is considered a safe way of living or a good way of living may be pulled out from under them. I can understand that. That's why countercultural film movements are important since it's lacking in the culture right now. There's an idea that there's value to an alternate point of view, but everything that's presented in the media is procultural, and it makes people nervous when there hasn't been a true discussion of alternate points of view. There's no general discussion in the media.

I do like things that are not necessarily a reflection of what is considered the right thing by this culture. Somehow, promoting that status quo I find uninteresting. I have thought about that more as the years have gone on, and it's a feeling that I would not have been able to describe 15 years ago as I can now. But at the same time, I don't intellectualize it, I don't have a written manifesto or just say this is the only thing I can do or will do.

I'm not somebody who believes that darkness is something that should necessarily be hidden from children or anything like that. I think children like a lot of the same things that they like as adults' or rather, the other way around, adults like a lot of the same things that they liked when they were children.

Probably my four favorite directors are Werner Herzog, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Stanley Kubrick and Luis Buñuel, because with all of their work you can think beyond the edges of the film. They're not films that dictate to you, this is what you must think. They're all films that have compelling stories, but there are thoughts beyond the films themselves.

At a certain point in an actor's career it is good to say to oneself "What am I?" and then figure something out. You could call this entity an archetype as opposed to a stereotype. I believe this conclusion of self is a good thing to stick with, and explore the entire universe from this point of view. This does not limit one, but expand. It is only good if one can get some kind of truth from within this point of view. If it is a false ideal, then it will become a "stereotype" as opposed to an archetype.

I think humor delineates who your friends really are. I worked on Little Noises (1991) with Rik Mayall, and he described to me a theory of humor. With pack animals, if there's a sick one in the bunch, the others will growl at it and try to get rid of it. This translates to the comedian on-stage. There are two types of comedians. One who says, "Everybody laugh at that person," and the braver comedian who makes them laugh or growl at himself. It brings people together. The audience laughs at this sick thing: they become a part of this clan or tribe. And that's where you get your friends: you share a certain humor about the sick and the foolish.

There's a tradition in the American media to ask actors what the movies are about, but it always seems wrong. It seems like the directors and the writers only often see an actor quoted in what a movie is about.

[on filmmaking] My favorite part is editing. That's where you are making the final art of what the movie is. Being on set is kind of the war element. Editing is a kind of, clean-up stage where the beauty comes into it.

[on strip clubs] The ecdysiast's art, the appreciation of the female form, the prurient music handpicked by the dancers contribute to an atmosphere I truly enjoy.

The Hero's Journey is the most basic story form. All stories and myths are, on some level, a Hero's Journey. It is almost impossible to relay any kind of story without utilizing some pattern from the structure of a Hero's Journey. One could simply say, "He went across the street." And this would be the hero leaving his normal world to set out upon his quest. It can come forth from the psyche in many different patterns, still work within a greater pattern, and still be good structure as long as it is reflective of an inner psychic truth.

The way I normally answer questions is from a 1600-word page document that I have saved from my written interviews over the last [several] years of touring with my live shows and feature films I have directed. This means I can use that resource to answer certain commonly asked questions and respond in more detail to less commonly asked questions.

[on not liking the ending of the first Back to the Future] I thought it was not a good idea for our characters to have a monetary reward because it basically makes the moral of the film be that money equals happiness. What I was arguing for was that the characters should be in love and that the love should be the reward, and [Robert] Zemeckis got really mad at me when I said this.

[on his lawsuit towards the producers of Back to the Future Part 2 who didn't ask him permission to use his likeness for a different actor portraying George McFly] Well, just to be clear, the producers took the mold of my face that was used to make the old-aged makeup for the first film and put those prosthetics on another actor with false nose, chin, and cheekbones, in order to fool the audience into believing that I was in the second film by splicing a very small amount of footage, and I mean a VERY small amount - just some close-ups. People think that it's me dancing and stuff, but it's a different actor. Of course, that's not a comfortable thing to have happen. To have people believe that you are doing something that you are not doing and attribute that to you is stealing. That's what the lawsuit is about. I'm proud of the lawsuit and standing up for that. The reason that I had the lawsuit wasn't initially for that. It was just to let people know that it was not me in that movie. It was a gross misuse of something. I do not like the idea of being involved in a lawsuit, but the only thing I could do at the time was do nothing and let everyone believe I was in the movie. If I had never had the lawsuit and never said anything, I'll bet you most people would believe that was me in that movie. I still have people come up to me and say that. What's unfortunate is that, of course, anytime you have a lawsuit in the industry, it's going to have negative effects. I knew that going into it. But, it was such an extreme case of producers stealing something, that it had to be addressed, and I had to do it. I would much prefer that the producers had not done that and just hired a different actor. That would have been fine. Just get a different person, use their face, and there would have been no problem. I would have been very happy today and still have very good feelings about the first film. But, by fooling people into believing that I was in that second film with my facial features in it, and even portions of me, it's still disturbing. It's unfortunate that it happened, but what can you do? You've got to do something about it. I would much prefer that it never happened.

[on the reason for not starting a family of his own] I've never been close to having children. I'm on the road so much, but if I had children it would be something that I'd want to be present for and I feel like I would not be present. Never been close to getting married.