Val Kilmer Quotes

One thing Della Valle taught me is the power to say no if something isn't right. That mattered even over sales. Now it's rolling and finally, after having been PR, boutique director, operator, messenger, and everything else, I'm finally in the role I like the most - court jester. And that's what I was doing at Chanel before.

I still refuse films offered to me at phenomenal prices and am doing some for peanuts.

When I think about whether I want to take a job, I don't just think about whether it's technically interesting, although I do consider that. I also consider the question of whether it's good for the world.

I don't want to ever say to somebody, 'You don't have to see it. It's not good.' I'm done with that. I'd love to just do things that I respect. That being said, I do have two children to put through school, so we'll see if I can put my money where my mouth is, but I would love to just work with people I respect.

Don't make career choices on short-term financial gain. Job satisfaction and career enjoyment are far more important.

I'd rather have a small part in a good film with good people than play the lead in something I don't really care for.

I would rather fall flat on my face than try to just make a quick dollar by making music that fits into the radio format right now. It does nothing for me.

Never play anything that don't sound right. You might not make any money, but at least you won't get hostile with yourself.

I'm not saying I wasn't flawed or amateurish. But you can never say I did anything to appease the music business.

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?'

Doing something because it's quote-unquote a good career move doesn't really appeal to me.

I won't make a movie for money ever again.

I have done some tacky films, but then they were all my decisions, and I'm happy to have made those because they have made me who I am.

I was living in London and I thought, 'There's nothing here for me anymore.' I don't want to become this actor who's going to be doing this occasional good work in the theater and then ever diminishing bad television. I thought I'd rather do bad movies than bad television because you get more money for it.

People ask whether I put the politics first, journalism first or the comedy first; it doesn't really matter. I'm just playing with the cards that I have been dealt because I really love doing what I do.

The way I choose projects is based on what I think is most real and most interesting, not on what's paying the most money or what's most popular.

You can't make your choices based on what critics think. You have to make your choices based on what's honest for you.

I've learned to take jobs as an actress that is meaningful to me because I've never taken a job for the money.

If you want to capitulate to what commercial needs are, you can always be commercially valuable, but I'm not interested in being that.

When I don't have a movie, I don't take a job just for the sake of working. I just sit it out until I find something I'm passionate about.

To maintain one's individuality, integrity, and true personality in the theatre is a big task.

I am completely open to doing a romantic comedy, but I will never do something just for the sake of doing a specific genre or because it's the time or place to do a different type of movie. I think that would be a huge mistake.

Know your career values: Not your parents' values, not your friends', but what you personally value in work. For me, it's things like moving quickly and scrappily, ownership and authority over my work, and flexibility.

I think a lot of comedians are desperate to show their serious side, but I got that off my chest early on in my career.

I just never want to do anything that's going to compromise what I do. It would have to be a song where there would be honest discussion about something.