Dennis Franz Quotes

The idea of being in a television series is a wonderful one to be considered, but you want to make sure it's the right thing for you because if you are fortunate enough to have something go for a long term, you want to make sure that it's something that you really want to be spending a bulk of your time on.

I had done some TV movies that were great experiences but, no, I wasn't looking to do a series.

The one worry that I always have with TV is that it's such a long commitment. You sign on to be there for a good amount of time, and then you can't go and do films and things like that.

As far as television is concerned, I'm just not interested in working on a series. Why should I settle for being someone's second banana? And that weekly grind is unrewarding and too demanding.

I definitely devote so much more time to acting, but since it only takes a day or two to shoot and get pictures out - whereas for acting, you do an audition, or loads, and you might not get any of them - so I did the modeling stuff because, obviously, if I have the opportunity, I'm going to take it.

Right when I started getting solid was when I was offered a lot of writing work. And when The Ben Stiller Show was picked up, I realized there was no way for me to do stand-up three or four nights a week and run this television show with Ben. So that was the moment when I had to make a choice.

Whatever the reasons that I turn things down, I'm always happy when there's a good result, and I can enjoy it as a movie, you know? I don't feel like, 'Oh man, that was really good. I should have done it.' You have to make the decisions you have to make, whether it has to do with your family or repeating a character or whatever it is.

I don't think being a star has ever been part of the plan. But I always want to do really good work, even when I made career moves with projects that made more sense in sort of a career way than in an artistic way... like I did with 'The Darkest Hour.'

You would think, in an ideal world, that if you were in a really good film and did a really good job, whether it was a big film or not, you would get hired a lot; but that is not my experience.

If I had it to do over, I might have finished school first, then devoted all my time to StumbleUpon instead of dividing my time between the two. In the end, however, it was probably good to take the time I did.

People always ask, 'Do you wanna do movies; do you wanna do other things?' But they haven't fired me from 'OLTL' yet. When that happens, I'll make that choice.

When it comes down to it, it's giving people a good night out in a basic way and I think my company guarantees that. There's always something new and something to excite us and surprise us, and that's why people come back, I hope.

If I hadn't had a childhood career, I probably would've signed a contract with the first person I came across.

I only made two studio movies, that was a long time ago and obviously I removed myself. I think some of that is geographical. I live in New York and I want to work there, it's as simple as that.

I can't say there were parts I was offered and turned down, but there were meetings for parts that I didn't go to, meetings I should have gone to, meetings I was advised against going to. I listened to that advice.

I will not look back and say, 'I should have played in England.'

I was taking piano lessons with a very good piano instructor in Toronto, and I'm afraid due to my schedule and discipline, it kind of fell apart. One thing lead to another and I was unable to practice as much as I wanted to.

I don't work all day, every day on 'Rizzoli & Isles,' but I work every day. It may be a scene or two, or it may be an enormous workload, but there's really not a lot of room for anything else, and that's the choice I made. And that's why I stayed away from TV before: Because I know that that's what it is.

As I became very defined in my personal politics, I turned down some films that I slightly regret now; I'm not going to say what they were.

I'm not setting 'Jericho' up to be anything other than what it is, which is, you know, a piece of good, well thought-out, well put-together TV and entertainment.

Some things are very low profile, but if they excite me creatively, I accept them. Sometimes there are high-profile projects, and you have to do it. We all have human limitations. It is a painful decision to turn things down. Even accepting 'Slumdog Millionaire' was a decision that I had to sacrifice another project.

I've turned down a lot of roles. Some of them made stars out of the people. I have no regrets.

I think a lot of actors, maybe who have been on a hit show and been lucky enough to get successful, might say 'no' more than I do. And maybe that's good, maybe that's smart. I don't know.

Acting in two films would mean four months of the year, which would leave eight months for me, and if Bollywood needs that time from me, I am ready to give it a shot.

I could have earned lots of crores by doing hundreds of more 'Rangeela' that came my way.