When I was doing 'Kanche,' a lot of my well-wishers and friends in the industry suggested that I concentrate on doing commercial films.
I turned down 'American Gigolo.' There are many films - like 'Ghostbusters' - that I turned down... The first one I did was 'Foul Play' with Goldie Hawn, but I turned down 'Animal House' - I turned that down.
You always worry about films when you hear about them making decisions after announcements are made.
I'm pretty sure I would never do a full frontal in a movie - for personal reasons, I wouldn't really want to show that.
My criteria for doing theater has always been slightly different than my criteria with movies, in that there are a lot of reasons to do films, having to do with location, money, and first and foremost having to do with script and role and director.
A film is a chain of very difficult decisions, and I think one of them is to choose an accurate cast.
The biggest mistakes I made in my career were when I said, 'If I do this movie, I'll be able to do a couple more movies.' Those are the times I really got ugly.
I was told by many well-wishers not to do the film because my role was just a cameo. But it's very important to be part of big, successful films like 'Holiday.'
What puzzles most of us are the things which have been left in the movies rather than the things which have been taken out.
My crew [on "Fitzcarraldo" filming] actually said, "We have filmed it from outside on the rocks of the shore. We should be on board [the ship]," and I said it's dangerous, I only do it if you cinematographer Thomas Mauch and you actor [Klaus] Kinski decide on your own.
