Independents Quotes

There`s nothing in the United States to do except the independents. Certainly not in the studios. It`s a situation where films are made for $100m and they knock out all competition. Their audiences are eight to 20. It feels silly being a 60-plus year-old man in those films, which are basically cartoons and high technology.

I want to work with great directors. I want to work on good material with good actors. I`ve probably done 20 movies at this point and a lot of independents. It`s been an incredible ride and I love it and I`m just going to keep going and doing what I`m doing.

(On what he would do if he wasn`t an actor): I have no skills. There`s absolutely nothing I know how to do. So I`d be fucked otherwise. I`m very fortunate to be an actor. I know I`m very lucky to be doing this. And though I`m not sure where I`m going to end up -- whether it`s in major films, independents, or theater work -- I`m just happy getting to do roles that are really juicy, meaningful and allow me to keep adventuring the way I have been.

Working for the studios is no piece of cake. But it`s a trade-off situation, whomever you work for. You have much less creative freedom working for big studios, but they really release your film. By comparison, you have enormous creative freedom working for independent companies like New World. But when it comes time to sell your film and show it to the public, they don`t have the same clout as big studios. The independents have to fight to get your film in theaters in which to show your film and they have to fight to keep your film in those theaters. Everybody in the business faces one truth all the time -- if your movie doesn`t perform immediately, the exhibitors want to get rid of it. The exhibitors only want product in their theaters which makes money. Quality has nothing to do with it.

The studios are no longer creative institutions. Their job is to raise a great deal of money for their shareholders, to hedge their bets about risk. All this does not spell creativity. You might as well be talking real estate. Thank goodness for the independents. Except that distribution is still controlled by the studios. So they take the first week`s profit and, after that, they don`t give a damn. They take their money and they leave. It sucks.

Yes, I`m a Judeo-Christian. Jesus and Moses are in my heart, and... both of them were independents, by the way.

This is not the time for partisan bickering. This is not the time for politics as usual. Some of us are Democrats. Some of us are Republicans. Some of us are Independents. Above all, we must be Oklahomans first.

People who really love Virginia, Independents, Republicans and Democrats have stepped up to support the principles I am fighting for.