Quotes

There are two kinds of people in this world: Michael Jackson fans and losers.

[May 20, 2003] Doing something because it's quote-unquote "a good career move" doesn't really appeal to me. There's never a surefire good career move except doing good work.

[of being famous] It's a period of adjustment. I've gotten a lot better at it. After working for 18 years, all of a sudden I became successful on a level where other people knew it. It's not a cat you can put back in the bag.

[about being a child star:] My childhood success came and went real fast. Between 12 and 16, I grew--as much as I was going to, anyway--and no longer looked the same. Like most child actors, I found it a difficult adjustment. Still, I've done so many things that I wasn't associated with one thing. I'm an actor, not a celebrity. When recognition became an issue a few years ago, part of me felt undeserving. Desperate to maintain my popularity, I was performing all the time. Then, I caught a glimpse of myself at the MTV Music Awards -- dressed in leather, grasping for jokes--and set about changing my habits. Now that I've stopped trying so hard, I'm more comfortable in my skin.

[on improvising:] . . . three movies with Mike Myers certainly loosened me up. He told me that there's a switch in your brain that censors you, makes you second-guess. You have to turn it off, shut out the fear of being embarrassed and making a mistake. Being a good improvisational actor is all about being in the scene, getting out of your head. Conan O'Brien is my favorite interviewer because he pays attention and has no game plan.

[of his character Lyle in The Italian Job (2003)] There's no greater way to gain an audience's sympathy than by being unfortunate. My main goal was to not make him this mono-dimensional computer guy. There had to be a reason this guy could hang with this tough crew. I didn't want him to be dorky, but a little unfortunate and a little embittered, the kind of guy who has this massive motorcycle he can't even ride.

[on his character Lyle in The Italian Job (2003), who speaks a lot of technical jargon] I don't believe in e-mail. I rarely use a cell phone and I don't have a fax. But part of the reason I got this job is that I'm good at making complicated technical terms sound normal. It sounds obnoxious, but I compare it to doing [William Shakespeare]. You just figure out the emotional content of the line and go with that. It doesn't matter what you're saying if you come from an honest place. Though most people don't know half the words, you don't have to dumb down. I hate when they show a policeman saying "I've got a 3-U at Baker Street . . . breaking and entering." No one talks like that.

[May 14, 1999, on improvising dialogue as Scott Evil in scenes with Mike Myers in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)] [Dr. Evil's] whole "Shhh!" thing was made up on the spot. It's a testament to Mike Myers' brilliance. They just keep going after the written scene is over, and fucking magic happens.

[May 14, 1999, on playing the character Oz in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997)] The script that wooed me was for the episode where I first turn into a werewolf. Before I signed, [producer Joss Whedon] said, "Read this. This is what we're thinking". It had all this metaphorical stuff and gave strong shades to the character. I said, "Yeah, I want to be a part of this".

[on Marilyn Manson] I've met him a bunch and hung out a handful of times. He's great, very smart and knowledgeable about world history and politics. Always fun to be around.

[on Macaulay Culkin] He had kind of a stratospheric success at a young age, whereas I just kind of plodded along successfully without becoming famous until much later. But we really related to each other as far as disposition and shared experience, and just our opinions about people in the business. I think very highly of him; he's an excellent, excellent friend.

[about his "breakthrough" role] Oh gosh, "Third Youth at Hot Dog Stand in White Man's Burden (1995) . . . I think [it] was really a defining moment for me. It was a time when I knew that I was really making it as an actor.

[on his brief role on Sesame Street (1969)] I called them up to see if I could get on the show. I was like, "Am I famous enough that I can call and ask to be on 'Sesame Street' yet?" And I guess I was. So they were like, "What do you want to do?" And I'm like, "Anything, just put me on with some Muppets, please!" And I actually flew to do "Sesame Street" immediately after filming Without a Paddle (2004). I flew back from New Zealand, I was in Los Angeles for less than four hours, then I flew to New York and got in at midnight for a 7 a.m. call. That's why I look so haggard on it. But it was a really incredible experience. They pulled a bunch of the old Muppets out of storage and let me play with them, so I got to meet "Grover" and "Oscar", and "Big Bird" and "Cookie Monster", and "The Count" and "Bert" and "Ernie". It was the greatest.

[on making Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004)] Really fun. It was one of those movies where you get that offer, and it's like, "Is this gonna hurt or help me? Or neither? Is it just something I get to do?" And I had a great conversation with a friend of mine. We just determined that it wasn't anything that would hurt me, career-wise. It was a fun opportunity to work with friends of mine, to do a really fun kids' movie that was iconic in pop culture. You know, it was an easy job. It was a blast, too. I got to wear glasses and be a museum curator.

Four Kings (2006) was a tremendous amount of potential, I thought. I was very excited to do that show with the guys who created Will & Grace (1998). I loved the cast that got put together and it, unfortunately, was at a time when NBC was really unclear as to what kind of shows they wanted to be making. And here was a show about lifelong best friends that was supposed to be how these guys look out for each other, and how your best friends are the people that know you the best and can shit on you the worst. Instead, at least once an episode, one of us said to another, "I just don't know if we can be friends any more" over some kind of ridiculous conflict. So instead of it being a show celebrating friendship, it became a show about these bizarre conflicts between us that were somehow making us not interested in being friends.

Without a Paddle (2004) is one of the best experiences I've had making a movie, but also the hardest movie I've ever made, because it was so physical. And cold. And exhausting. And everything in that movie is us in our underwear in some kind of unforgiving environment. But three months isolated in different areas of New Zealand with Matthew Lillard and Dax Shepard - I couldn't have been happier. We just had fun every day. It was a really, really great experience.

Knockaround Guys (2001) is the movie that I essentially left "Buffy" to do. This was an incredible opportunity that got presented to me. The guys that had written Rounders (1998) were directing their first feature. Lawrence Bender was producing it, a relatively unknown Vin Diesel was starring in it. Barry Pepper and Andy Davoli, and then Tom Noonan, John Malkovich and Dennis Hopper. So it was a great opportunity for me to play something that I'd never played before: a darker, more complicated, kind of tragic character. And that movie, it just got tied up in politics. New Line was going to release it, and they had had a string of failures leading up to it and were kind of bottoming out their distribution budget and focusing everything on starting The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001). They were about to put all their money into developing and producing three back-to-back movies, and as a result, a ton of pictures got shelved until they could figure out what to do with them. Some were going directly to DVD, some were gonna get released on cable, some were still being held out for theatrical, and they felt like "Knockaround Guys" was a theatrical release. So it got held for a while, and unfortunately that wound up looking like . . . It got held long enough that Vin Diesel became a big star and got paid $20 million to do xXx (2002), and then the marketing people thought, "Well, we should just wait until 'xXx' comes out to release this movie, as opposed to trying to put it out beforehand". And what that looked like was an opportunistic release, leading people to believe that the movie was no good and that they were just trying to capitalize on the success of "xXx" and Vin becoming a bigger star. It was just unfortunate, because I really loved the movie, and I don't think it ever got seen by anyone, and there was kind of a stigma around it that it was shelved for a lack of quality, which just wasn't the case.

Family Guy (1999) 's one of the best jobs I've ever had. Ever. It's a show I love to watch, so it's a thrill to get to be on it. It's a fairly easy job to do, and I have a lot of fun. And the fact that fans are responding, too, it blows my mind. I mean, it's exciting that people like it. It makes me feel like there's a similarity in consciousness... No, that's not a good way to explain it. I feel like there's a similar sense of humor. It's nice to feel like I'm not crazy for thinking the show is funny. Know what I mean?

(2011, on why he thinks he's worked steadily over the years) I'm like the everyman in a funny way. I'm short enough to be nonthreatening but appealing enough to kiss the girl in a movie. The guys want to have a beer with me and the girls think I'm a cute alternative to their asshole boyfriend. It's also because I'm a student of pop culture. I get how pop culture relates to the economic atmosphere and politics and our personal lives. The shit we grow up watching and listening to has a huge impact on us and reflects what's happening in the larger world.

(2011, on the advantages of being short) I love people's reactions sometimes. When we go out somewhere and my wife looks great, I like to think everybody's saying, "Hey, how come she's fucking that guy?" But I've been short all my life, so it is what it is, and I don't have an issue with it. The only thing it determines is what parts I can play. I'm not going to be the intimidating ­asshole cop who shakes down the entire precinct.

(2011) I had a huge eye-opening experience on LSD when I was 17. I realized how much I had become self-consumed, how much attention I was paying to my own details and not enough to the world or people around me. It was like, Oh my gosh, there are worlds upon worlds directly before my eyes and all I've got to do is interact. I would never do acid again, but I'm actually glad I did it when I did.

(2011, on what he likes to do when he's not working) Travel. That's how I spend my money. A buddy of mine and I took a trip from Africa to Micronesia. It was awesome. Thailand, Palau. I don't buy watches or jewelry, but I'll spend a shitload on a trip to Dubai. Dubai was crazy. I'm weird famous in Dubai because there's so much Western business there and the people are adopting Western culture. Everywhere I went, I got tagged. I passed by this straight-up sheik with the full getup. He walked past me and went "Hey" with the little head nod. I was like, "No shit. All right, man. Good to know The Italian Job (2003) and Austin Powers made it this far." We're living in crazy times.

(On working with Corey Haim on The Double 0 Kid (1992)) We started to shoot and he was complaining of stomach pains and eventually wound up leaving, we couldn't shoot anything and I was really upset. I was such a defender of him, then to have him act the way people were accusing him of was really disheartening. Then they reset everything to shoot and he was just immeasurably professional that day. Just all over the place, working way above and beyond, busting his ass, knew all his lines, hittin' his marks really sharp, and elevating it. And as much as you could elevate The Double 0 Kid (1992), elevating it. He was this duality of incredibly sweet and earnest professional who really loved performing, and this tortured drug addict that could be an entirely different person depending on where he was with his addiction.

[on Adam West's passing] He was a true hero of mine grew up watching him as Batman, and got the privilege of both working with him and directing him. He's generous and always classy. Very sad to think of the world without our beloved Mayor. How lucky we are he left so much behind

[on being on set with Sarah Michelle Gellar on Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) ] That show was just hard. We were working crazy hours, and a lot of things that got pushed weren't necessarily safe or under the best conditions. Sarah was always the first one to say, 'We agreed this was a 13-hour day and it's hour 15 - we've got to wrap,' or, 'Hey, this shot doesn't seem safe,' when nobody else would stick up for the cast and crew. I saw her get called a bitch, a diva, all these things that she's not - just because she was taking the mantle of saying and doing the right thing.