Ben Mendelsohn Quotes

I grew up not really seeing a lot of leads in the industry that weren't like - and I look up to these people - but like Ryan Gosling and Christian Bale.

The guys I grew up with, my cinematic heroes, have always been men of few words, but of action. Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach.

Men are fantastic - as a concept.

Father's Day is hopefully a time when the culture says, 'This is our moment to look at who our men and boys are.'

All children need their fathers, but boys especially need fathers to teach them how to be men.

I love the whole makeup of men - that they never mature and are always just boys.

When I'm talking to groups that are all men, we talk about how the masculine role limits them. They often want to talk about how they missed having real fathers, real loving, present fathers, because of the way that they tried to fit the picture of masculinity.

Men are very emotionally dependent upon women from the day they are born to the day they expire.

James Bond is one of those heroes that all guys feel they could actually be like.

Women are the real reason we get up every day. I'm talking about real men. If there were no women, I would not even have to bathe, because why would I care? These are guys I'm hanging with. I wake up for a woman every day of my life to make it happen for her.

I never really looked up to celebrities when I was young.

I meet fascinating people I respect and idolise all the time.

But the dream is never forgotten, only put aside and never out of reach: Where once the dream connected boys with the world of men, now it reconnects men with the spirit of boys.

I was into comics because these were my real male role models, even though at the time, I didn't know it.

Boys want to grow up to be like their male role models. And boys who grow up in homes with absent fathers search the hardest to figure out what it means to be male.

I'm not really a relationship expert but... I'm an expert on manhood and what men think.

When I was growing up, it was Clint Eastwood, it was Harrison Ford and Steve McQueen - these guys were tough. They were leading men, but they were also tough and physical.

I think a lot of guys want a son because of all of the things they do while growing up. A lot of guys want to share those experiences with their own sons.

One of the best things in the world to be is a boy; it requires no experience, but needs some practice to be a good one.

I remember as a young man seeing these bigger-than-life, strong images of black manhood in the form of Jim Brown and Fred Williamson, Jim Kelly, Billy Dee Williams. All these guys were these alpha males who were smart, attractive. I said, 'Wow, I want to be like that.'

I learned about men from my son.

Growing up, we tend to challenge each other. We've got to be the toughest, the strongest, the bravest men that we can be. And for many of us, myself included, our identities are wrapped up in whether or not at the end of the day we feel like we're man enough.

Every time I watch a Clint Eastwood film, I'm in touch with my feminine side, I've developed a searing man-crush on Clint Eastwood.

I grew up on WWE. Eddie Guerrero is my everything. He's my hero, as are Shawn Michaels and Tiger Mask. I tried to model myself after them.

My father figures were all gang members.