Michael Madsen Quotes

Well, one thing for sure, I won`t be remembered for Free Willy (1993). Or maybe I will.

Is it really selling out if it feeds your family?

Maybe I was just born in the wrong era, man. I`m a bit of a throwback to the days of black and white movies. Those guys back then, they had a certain kind of directness about them. A lot of the screenplays, the plots were very simplistic - they gave rise to a type of anti-hero that maybe I suit better. (2004)

You get these horrifying straight-to-video things for very little money, then you go to the Cannes Film Festival and they got some poster of you, 40ft high, in the worst movie in the world. You`re like, Oh my God. Take the fucking thing down!"`

My career has been very strange. My career is like a heart monitor. I get involved in a good project now and then to keep things going. And then I make things that I work on that I hope are going to be good so I can make a living and keep a roof over the heads of those little monsters I have in my house. You know, every movie you make can`t be great, no matter who you are. Even Brando made some clinkers.

It`s a movie about fighters, not fighting. You know, I got over seeing myself on screen a long time ago, but watching this film really affects me. (Speaking of his role in Strength and Honour)

The oddest thing is when children recognize me from Free Willy (1993) and their parents recognize me from Reservoir Dogs (1992). The kids are, like, `There`s Glen!` and the parents are, like, `Don`t go near that guy!`

I say my (tough guy) acting days are over, But then (Humphrey) Bogart made 30 pictures playing a (tough guy), and it wasn`t until `Maltese Falcon` that he was thought of as a leading man.

`I encourage my boys to do stuff in the arts, but I`m also an advocate of not taking any sh.., I have a heavy bag and every morning the boys go three 3-minute rounds on the heavy bag with the gloves".

I`m a leading man trapped inside a bad guy`s body.

I like to diversify. And I am all about longevity. I want to be doing this for as long as I can. I have made, I think, 72 pictures now. And I have made a lot of studio stuff and I have made a lot of low-budget stuff. The fun of making independent films is that they are a lot more open and it is a lot easier to ad lib and create a character and collaborate with the director. With a studio picture, you are a lot more controlled and your whole environment and your whole presentation is a lot more monitored.

I grew up in a time when I watched actors like Humphrey Bogart and Robert Mitchum ... those are the movies that I liked and I responded to. They`re all gone now and there`s no talent like that anymore, there`s no immensity of talent that exists like that in the motion picture industry. Even the movies are turning into a bunch of junk. They think if they put a handsome face in there or a good-looking body and they surround it with enough cars blowing up, that it is going to be entertaining ... but in the long run it`s just not going to last. It`s all empty, there`s no story anymore ... the same thing is happening to the motion picture industry that is happening to the landscape.

Kids are a great excuse for you to stop acting like one. (Men`s Health, March, 2004)

Your children don`t have to fear you to respect you.

I probably made a few pictures I shouldn`t have done, but I have four sons and I have to pay the rent. If you have a decision to make about whether or not you can buy groceries at the market or whether or not you`re going to make a bad movie, you`re going to make a bad movie.

I`ve been in a few brawls in my time.

L.A. Confidential (1997) was written with me in mind, but `Russell Crowe (I)` got the part. Go figure.

Encourage your kids` artistic side. Toughen up everything else.

Great film, sure, but not a payday. Al and Johnny (Depp) got all the money. There was none left for me. - On Donnie Brasco (1997).