I had this job at Hollywood Video, and during my worst audition ever, I forgot all of my lines in front of Chuck Lorre at the callback for the 'Mike and Molly' pilot.
After the Revolution in '49, all the films were propaganda. They serviced the government and carried the message that the government wants to relay to the people. But I think, in the last 10 years, because the film market is opening and there's an expansion of all the cinemas in China, it's now a lot like Hollywood productions.
You can count on one hand the white rappers that have made it. So I just wanted to show the point of view of an actor in Hollywood, because what could be more soft than that. Rapping about auditions and acting and stuff. I thought it was just uncharted territory to clown on, so that pushed through with Dirt Nasty.
I don't see a full-fledged career in Hollywood. I am happy with the cameos. Even Tom Cruise will only do special appearances in our films; he wouldn't do a full hero movie. But it's good to act in different cinema.
It takes a week to do a sitcom in Hollywood. I do a show a day in my studio, three or four shows a week.
Everyone applauds each other's success in Hollywood because they know how tough it is, but it really comes down fundamentally to the process.
Audiences like to be made to feel that there is a world where things go right: where big emotions can happen and yet feel safe. This is why there is a constant tension in Hollywood between studios who want happy endings and writers who want to explore the human condition. There is a time and a place for both!
I definitely won't play the bad German, the Nazi German, here in Hollywood or wherever.
I think about never losing my voice, never giving in, never selling out, always keeping black, always sticking to the street. Staying neighborhood and not Hollywood.
What's considered ideal in Hollywood is completely different than anywhere else in the world. I don't think you can aspire to it, nor can I. Everybody is retouched, stretched, lengthened, slimmed and trimmed. I could look at a picture of myself from the past and think, 'Why don't I look like that now?' It's because I never have!
All I want and all I even ask of people in Hollywood is look, just be honest with me. Please don't lie to me. Whatever the situation is, be honest with me.
The endless teen franchises that come out of Hollywood... more often than not, the central character doesn't have any discernible character traits. They're just the young, good-looking guy who goes on this journey. They're always played by fantastic young actors, but ultimately, they're not very interesting characters.
I like travelling and if I have to come to Hollywood to make a movie I will, but otherwise I'd never move there. It's very much an industry town and that doesn't really interest me.
You know why they think I'm reclusive? I don't do the Hollywood stuff. I've never been on the circuit.
I live in Hollywood, California. It's absolutely nothing like Absaroka County, Wyoming. For me, it's a great escape and I really enjoy it.
Hollywood has given me a great, warm hug.
You know Hollywood is a weird and wonderful place, I didn't know I Dream of Jeanie had been cancelled after 5 years until I went back to go on the lot to pick up some clothes and things I had in my dressing room.
Where is this Hollywood scene, where is it? I'd like to find it one day... If I want to go out and have a good time, I go to New York.
It was no accident that I made 'Hoop Dreams' because it concerned a sport that I loved and hoped would be my dream, however far-fetched that turned out to be. Because of the success of that film, Hollywood pigeonholed me as a sports biopic guy, which led to 'Prefontaine' and two cable sports films.
Even I haven't downed enough L.A. Kool-Aid to believe that somehow Hollywood movies are an overt instrument of morality.
All of us have read the stories about young people in Hollywood and all the challenges they have to confront there, and I think that artistically, I really didn't understand the commercial side of the film business, so I went back to a purely artistic setting.
It would be far to general a statement to try and describe the daily life of an actor in Hollywood, but I am quite certain that cappucinos have something to do with it.
'Sunset Boulevard' - the story of Hollywood movies draped on a depressing sex affair - is an uncompromising study of American decadence displaying a sad, worn, methodical beauty few films have had since the late twenties.
I don't really consider myself a black man in Hollywood. I live in Brooklyn... and on purpose.
I'm impressed with the people from Chicago. Hollywood is hype, New York is talk, Chicago is work.
When I'm back at home it's just reality. I kind of separate myself from Hollywood.
I usually play character parts in Hollywood films.
In my world - advertising - the Super Bowl is judgment day. If politicians have Election Day and Hollywood has the Oscars, advertising has the Super Bowl.
I like to take risks and do weird things and stuff that's not normal compared to other Hollywood movies. Not stuff that's totally avant garde and daring, but doing stuff that's in other languages and not using stars and using real people - things that they generally don't do in mainstream films.
There's a rule in Hollywood: stay away from water and stay away from snow, and I had both.
I don't champion the idea of being in a Hollywood movie. I never had fun in one of them.
My first exposure to what Hollywood was like, behind the scenes, was when Joel Silver started screaming at Roger Rabbit at the beginning of 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit.'
After working for years in Hollywood where the actors have taken over, it was a real relief to get down there and not only have some children, but also have some actors that had no attitude.
I worked with fantastic actors, fantastic directors. People I would never otherwise have met. Was I limited? Yes. Did I use it as I could have? No. But I was always ambivalent about Hollywood and what I wanted. And ambivalence in our business is no good for success.
It's good to experience Hollywood in short bursts, I guess. Little snippets. I don't think I can handle being here all the time, it's pretty nutty.
When I was young, I dreamt of being a starlet in Hollywood. But there comes a point in every African American's life when you realize the limitations, that you could only play maids or some little supporting role. Even Lena Horne couldn't get good parts.
