John C. Reilly Quotes

I get very involved in my roles. I want people to think it's all really happening. If I'm in it, I'm in it.

The thing is that when you make a film, it is such an intense experience. It's like being married.

To make a movie about mayhem, sometimes you have to go to mayhem.

I don't want to express alienation. It isn't what I feel. I'm interested in various kinds of passionate engagement. All my work says be serious, be passionate, wake up.

I try to ground most of my characters in reality somehow. That's kind of what I bring to the table.

I like movies that pop, that have a little bit of candy on, that freedom to have a little bit of extra fun, but are rooted in real behaviour. Rooted in cause and effect, never violating reality.

I really believe in the characters I play.

A lot of times as writers, you want to come up with the best possible story, and you bend it according to what you want to happen. I think one of the things that I always try to think about is what would really happen in a situation, what feels real.

You need to feel that the game is important to you. Lose that feeling and you lose your edge. There's no faking that kind of emotion. You can't invent the feeling. It's got to be natural, real.

When you make movies the way I do, you invest everything you have. And you do it like a crazy maniac.

I work really hard on every character and do everything in order to make it look authentic.

I play my part in my films with utmost honesty.

The films you do are not just for the audience. As an actor, you are putting your heart and soul into them.

I believed in making it look real. I was probably hard to work with because I wanted it to make real, and I knew how to wrestle.

Making a movie is like getting married. You're like, "Am I going to marry this project? Am I ready for that kind of commitment?"

If you are writing something in which you are really involved, you don't even need to think about it any longer. The situation itself demands your total commitment as an individual, just as in your political commitments.

I hear people talk in my head and I write it down. I choose where they live and how they dress to be real. That person wouldn't wear that. That person wouldn't say that. She can't afford to live like that. All that bullshit that so many movies have in them. I don't want to see that.

Anything that I've put my name to and my face to and put my time into, is something that I'm clearly passionate about, or I wouldn't be there.

Love is no game! It is no flowery softness! It is hard work- It demands everything from you- especially the truth. Only then does it yield results.

I'm dedicated to bringing to life what the author is trying to portray. I try to make the producers cry and the crew laugh.

The only difference between reality and fiction is that fiction needs to be credible.

To write a short story, you have to be able to stay up all night.

I’m serious about you, Avery. If you want me for real, you have me.

In a way, it's a great thing that I have the opportunity to stand at the crossroads of Los Angeles and Indianapolis, and stay right here, ... People say that reality is in the footsteps, and not the words. That, as much as anybody, gives you a chance to show your sincerity and commitment, and what you're all about as far as leaving a legacy.

When it came down to it, he just wasn't that engaged. You had to be engaged to be a vegetarian; you had to be engaged to sing "Both Sides Now" with your eyes closed; when it came down to it, you had to be engaged to be a mother.