Hal Quotes

(On filming the love scene in Shallow Hal (2001)) It was just strictly professional. It was like a doctor or a carpenter plying his trade. I received no pleasure whatsoever . . . I requested 32 takes for the perfection of the craft.

(about Shallow Hal (2001)) I wasn`t proud of it, and I got paid a lot of money, so in retrospect it feels like a sell-out.

(on co- starring with Gwyneth Paltrow for the first time in Shallow Hal (2001)) You know, I WAS a little afraid that she would fall head-over-heels in love with me, like she did (when co-starring) with Brad Pitt in Se7en (1995).

People know me for my love of food, but I have so much more I want to share, ... Our show`s going to be all about taking a bigger bite out of life. I want people to see themselves in this show because life is full of messes and successes, and getting there is half the fun.

People know me for my love of food, but I have so much more I want to share. Our show`s going to be all about taking a bigger bite out of life. I want people to see themselves in this show because life is full of messes and successes, and getting there is half the fun.

Like Germany or Japan or touring companies here, and Hal particularly really didn`t want it to happen and so we just sort of forgot about it.

Hal and I are close friends. I understand his language, his humor, his film language, what he is trying to say. I tell actors who are new to Hal--this is more like dance. It`s not acting naturalistically, it`s carefully choreographed. Gestures are important and specific gestures are very important. -- On Writer/Director Hal Hartley

I loved Altman. Even though we only made MASH and Brewster McCloud he offered me McCabe and Mrs. Miller and I had to turn it down to do Harold and Maude. But I never got over working under his supreme command and imagination. I adored Hal Ashby - he let me go to the limit and beyond and was always there to catch me. Robert Dornhelm is a fantastic director. I recently did an uncredited role for Joel Schumacher in "The Number 23" with Jim Carrey. I was fascinated by Joel`s kindness and relaxation on the set and yet his eye was constantly focused like an eagle. Wes Anderson is a trip. He is his own planet, a real artist; I just think he has so much greatness to give. His potential is enormous and gleaming, just like his fabulous New York loft.

Hal and I really just sat back and started thinking about things, and the way that I need to go about seeing pitches and getting in the right frame of mind, ... I`ve just been working hard every day to get where I needed to be.

I guess professionally it began when Hal Hartley used some music of mine in his film The Unbelievable Truth.

It`s sort of like that movie, `Shallow Hal,` where the guy falls in love because of what he sees inside her, not what she looks like. Chad just saw himself differently from how we saw him.

No no, not boxers, they look like these kind of swimming trunks type thing, underwear, and it`s the sort of thing that... I really can`t see anyone wanting to wear them! And I sort of just get in, and I`ve not actually seen the bit where you see me with my top half undressed... but I`ve seen the bit after that where I`m just in the bath. It is very funny with Moaning Myrtle. It`s a really good scene, but I`m sort of a bit nervous about seeing that in the cinema.

Hal touched so many lives,