Russell Howard Quotes

You earn very little money on independent films and I'm the provider for my home, so I do have to think of taking one for the accountant time and again and that means studio pictures.

I've turned down shows offering large amounts of money.

It sounds so incredibly selfish, but you just can't earn the same money doing theater as you can doing television and film. I know that's awful, but you get a mortgage and a family, and suddenly, paying that seems quite important.

Coming off of 'Book of Mormon,' I had a lot of opportunities. I didn't want to do TV, actually. I really wanted to get paid nothing and keep doing theater at all costs.

I needed the time to go to college and spend years with people who aren't in the business and become a person on my own in order to be the person that I am and the performer that I am. I wouldn't give that up to be in blockbusters or have more money.

If I wanted to work financially, I would have made a series of different choices. I do get offered lots of movies which you could make a lot of money out of. And I always say, 'Why would I do that, when someone else could do it much better than me? Why would I want to do an action picture? Why?'

'New Girl' is how I make my living, and if I'm going to do a movie, it's because I really, artistically, want to do it.

My choice of films has never been governed by money. That is perhaps why I don't have a very fancy bank account. I'd rather get respect and creative satisfaction through my work than just earn money.

Is it really selling out if it feeds your family?

The only reason I'm able to do music is because I'm making money on 'Community.' If I wasn't, I couldn't pay for things.

I could be making a lot more money now if I had chosen a different kind of movie, but none of that matters to me... I've done the parts I wanted to do.

I turned down twelve films last year... Huge money films, but I had no respect for the writer or the work.

I've been fortunate, I guess: I've gotten to play a lot of very diverse roles for quite a long time. But in the beginning, I was thinking, 'I'm not gonna do certain characters. I will be willing to say no and live on a couch.' And I was really happy.

There's a couple of times that I did it for the... paycheck. Even when I was younger - I remember I did this movie that wasn't good, called '1969.' I totally did it 'cause I could get out of school.

I used to just do movies for alimony purposes, between plays.

A lot of us players, if you were to ask them, feel like they have to play overseas. Why? 'Why not? Might as well do it while I can.' For a while, I felt that way - I've got to make the most money that I can. Now, do I feel like I could still play overseas? Absolutely. But I don't feel that pressure anymore.

I went on the Andy Williams show, the Smothers Brothers show, and maybe I shouldn't have. But regrets - I don't think I have any.

I don't want to get on the treadmill of earning more money. I'd rather live cheaply and allow myself more freedom. I can honestly say I've never taken a film just for the dough, although I've made some ghastly mistakes.

If I wasn't a model, I would never have been around interesting musicians, even had the financial capabilities to say, 'I don't have to work right now. I can sit and make my record.'

I turned down a lot of money by not going to Chelsea, but that's not what I'm interested in.

When I sat down to write 'Rules of Civility,' I didn't write it for anybody but myself. I wasn't trying to make my mark or make money. I wasn't anxious about feeding my kids or whether my father would be proud of me.

Money is very important to me, but its source is important too. As of now, I can say that I will never ever do films that demands me to sell my craft.

When I did TV shows and my other movies, I never try to do it for anybody. I just do what I think is good no matter what the genre is.

I went to school for economics, and especially in Asian culture it's not really a viable job for my family to be an artist.

I'm not really the type to jump into a $20 million film just to do it.