Kevin Spacey Quotes

I have never in my career embarked on a journey towards controversy. I have never deliberately set a flame.

I'm one of those actors who's going to have to create a space for themselves. It's very easy to be the young Tom Cruise, because Hollywood knows what to do with you. But if you're someone who's bringing someone slightly left of center to the table, you're not a sure thing.

Sometimes, I'll hear from other writers or folks in the publishing industry that my books are rule-breakers, which I take as a compliment.

I've always enjoyed doing challenging things and also challenging common wisdom.

I don't like the idea of fitting into a mould so as to conform. What I like is the danger, the difference - being unpredictable.

I love playing outsiders, I always do.

If you want to do something different, you're going to come up against a lot of naysayers.

Everybody wants you to do this thing that you've always been doing forever. That's what they want: they want Martin Scorsese to make the same film two hundred times rather than trying to be something different.

I have a real interest in pushing some of the limits of things that studios don't want to make.

I don't want to only make the movies that studios will greenlight.

I've made a career of being a contrarian. If I'm going to work with Tom Cruise, it's my instinct to be like, 'Well, I'm going to do the anti-Tom Cruise movie.'

I think to truly not know what to expect out of the story - to create a world where nothing is guaranteed - is sort of the backbone of 'Atlanta.'

When you do anything completely different from a beaten path, many tend to pounce on you.

'Deadpool' is massively successful because they made a very unique movie. That uniqueness and originality, try to imitate that. Not, 'How about let's try to do 'Deadpool' on a train.'

We try to keep audiences coming back in greater numbers by doing the unexpected and not simply following a pattern or a mold or a formula.

If you're making a smaller movie, you're almost obligated to do something unexpected and surprising.

I think it's very dangerous as an artist to be comfortable.

I think my dad's rebellion is that he's super accepting - I mean, he, like, encouraged me to drop out of university. And to do acting.

It never occurred to me that artists, of all people, have to be reminded that instinct is more important than tradition, but in our industry, people seem to forget that sometimes.

You may confuse a lot of people when going against the grain of conventional thinking, and that's perfectly okay. As an entrepreneur, standing up for your vision to your family and friends might possibly be the best practice you will get for the life that awaits you.

I don't want to play safe, because there are a lot of people who are playing it safe, and I don't want to be one of them.

I wanted to do something that nobody else was doing. I didn't have a mentor. There were no other women on the radio.

I feel that one thing that a businessman can learn is do not follow a path that has already been successful. You will never be a path-breaker then.

Working in network sitcom arenas, whenever you decide to depart from the norm and tell a story that's not typical, I think you're always a little bit nervous.

Mostly, theater becomes blander and blander as everyone wants the same thing they saw before. The good plays are the ones that don't allow you to do that.