I got 'The Grey' made because Liam Neeson wanted to make that movie.
The reason I was in most of the movies I've done is that they paid for me to be in the theater.
I don't find movies interesting. I just want to do the movies that made me interested in getting into movies, and they're few and far between.
I don't just do a movie to do a movie. Of course I want to amuse people, but some of Madea's greatest moments are when she gets to talk about child rearing and bullying and all kinds of things like that.
I was fourteen, watching 'The Princess Bride' for the 254321th time, captivated by Wesley and Inigo dueling on the cliff-top. I had never held a sword in my life, but I phoned my mum and said, 'I want to learn to fence!'
The motivation for making movies is that people actually see them.
When I was in college, there were dollar movie nights. I went to see 'The Long Goodbye,' which was based on one of Chandler's books but was contemporary and set in Los Angeles in 1973. I loved the movie, which motivated me to read the book.
The reasons you have for doing a movie will vary with the way your life is going. There was a time when a made a some movies because I felt I needed to work. And I didn't think about the material as much. But sometimes I've thought about the material a lot and thought I was doing the right thing, and it didn't work out.
It's a fact that kids watch TV. But if you think back, when you watched cowboy movies, you would go out and play cowboys. TV and movies motivate people.
At this point, it's either for fun or it's for money. I don't take movies that I don't really like.
The films that have influenced me and the films that have motivated me and inspired me were films that resonated, films that made me think after I saw them.
Aren't people supposed to do movies so that they can get girls?
I wanted to be an actor because I saw 'Dog Day Afternoon,' you know what I mean?
I did 'Padman' not only because of its social message. I did it because it was a good story.
I just watched Paul Michael Glaser. He was the reason I wanted to do the movie because as a kid I was such a big fan of his. I watched all the episodes and tried to get a feeling for what he was doing.
Actors do these really gross, gun-'em-down movies, and I always wonder why. They're not good movies. And it's like, "Why are you doing them? Aren't you rich enough?"
