Andy Garcia Quotes

If you want to experiment, do something temporary.

You have to love the guy that you play, even if you play the villain, you've got to love him.

They say a lot of women would like to see me naked, but there's not a lens long enough for that.

It's important, when going after a goal, to never lose sight of the integrity of the journey.

She is Cuba. If you want to love her, you have to be with her, but you can't be with her in her current state. It's the point of view of all exiles - you have to leave the thing you cherish most.

I think good chemistry starts with mutual respect.

Children need parameters, know what's right or wrong.

A man should have a right to be religious if he wants to. The government should not be involved in those decisions.

Great writing attracts great actors. It attracts money. Without a great script, you have nothing.

I listen to and I play all kinds of music, and I'm interested in jazz and in bluegrass - I like it all - but Cuban music speaks to me in a certain way.

My grandfather was a very elegant individual. My father also. He was a lawyer and farmer in Cuba. In Miami, he had to go to work wherever he could. But whenever it was time to go out, you saw how they cared for how they looked.

Becoming a producer enables you to empower yourself, to make the film that you want to make. I have desires to make movies - I have movies I'm developing, and things that I'm interested in.

I wish we didn't have to tell this story.

I was a big fan of Joe's film, Narc, so when you hear there's a script coming over from Joe Carnahan, you know it's going to be interesting because he has such a fresh voice.

I'm a staunch anti-Castro individual.

It is necessary for me to express the deep sorrow that I feel for all the Cuban people both inside and outside of Cuba that have suffered the atrocities and repression caused by Fidel Castro and his totalitarian regime.

My uncle, who was a little more flamboyant, always said the guy who dressed the best was Fred Astaire.

I think if the movie has resonance and stimulates the viewer to talk about it, you can have as large an audience as you want. The most important thing for me is that the movie exists. And that's success enough already.

It's better not to work than to work in something you don't want to be working in.

I am a traditional man. I'm a product of a traditional man. He sacrificed everything for his family.

I've had my moments of insanity. But there is a certain responsibility to set proper examples for your children, and that influences your choices in every aspect of your life.

I knew a gentleman that I had worked with over the years, who is no longer with us, and was a great influence in my life named Cachao - a Cuban musician, composer, arranger, and creator of the Mambo. The integrity of the journey is what's important - how you conduct yourself in the process. That's what Cachao was always about. He had great integrity, great dignity, was very humble, and dedicated to his art.

Cachao is obviously Cuban. He's known for traditional Cuban music and that's the music that I'm most passionate about. Cachao is one of the greatest innovators and visionaries. At the base of the tree, the roots, there is Cachao. So I was blessed to have had that time to learn from him and to give him an opportunity and a space where he can create. Everybody always wants to play with Cachao, because he's the guy.

I go where I'm stimulated. If I'm stimulated, I show up. As Mick Jagger sings: It's my life and I'll do what I want.

I'm not trying to convince anybody of anything. I just want (the audience) to have an experience that moves them.

I don't control the movies that are offered to me, but I make choices based on certain parameters.

I'm not worried about walking the streets and looking over my shoulder because of something I might have said.

If you have the right actors and you can give them the freedom to explore, you've done a lot of your work as a director.

The executions, persecution and imprisonment of political dissidents and the LGBT community, denial of free press, elections and religious freedoms, continue to be Fidel Castro's legacy.

I pray for what I have always prayed for: the restoration of our constitution and absolute freedom for the people of Cuba. That dream is very much alive, that fight is very much alive.

Fidel Castro claimed that history would absolve him, but it can also condemn him.

I love doing voice-overs; I wish I could do more of them. It's a lot of fun to see how they take the voice and animate it and try to capture your own expressions and features. It's fascinating.

I'm not hooked on cognac, but I've enjoyed it over the years.

Martell Cognac approached me to make a film for them that represented the spirit of John Martell and what he stood for as a person and as a visionary - the qualities that they felt were linked to the brand because of John Martell himself. The creation of the cognac had an impact on the world. That's what Martell Cognac would like to promote: people that can inspire other kids and generations. They have a saying: "It's not what you achieve, it's how you achieve it."

I'm a fan of Ernest Hemingway work and specifically The Old Man and the Sea. I researched the relationship he had with the captain of his boat for 20 years, Gregorio Fuentes, and that inspired me to write a screenplay about it.

The promises of Fidel Castro's so-called revolution of pluralism and democracy, were and continue to be a false promise and a betrayal of all basic human rights.

I stand as I always have with the Cuban people who love, cherish and celebrate liberty. Hard-working, helpful people who open their hearts and homes to all, whether in Cuba or in exile.

Movies are very hard to make, to get it all to come together. So many people have their say in what the end product of films are.

I started in comedy when I first started as an actor on stage and doing improvisational theater and stuff like that. So a lot of people who know me know that sort of side of me. But I got the roles that I got as an young actor kind of steered me in a different direction, which were, at times, darker characters. And so comedy was not something that came easy for people to think of my in those terms.

My first interest was always music, and somehow that channelled itself into films and acting. I don't know what the natural transition of it was. I mean I acted a little bit when I was young and like any kid would in a community theatre.

Children make you a better everything. Daughters open up a whole different sensibility to you. When you have children, it focuses you on them as opposed to on yourself.

Freedom was taken away from my family until we landed in America and it was given back to us.

The size of budgets does not alter my decision if I should do it. If there's a movie with a budget of only $1 million that I find interesting, then I'll sign up, but it has to be in the hands of a director who can do something with it. Ultimately, it's a director's medium.

Pictures make a lot of money doesn't determine whether the experience was.

My son loves my carbonara. I've tried to master that recipe - it's very simple but very delicate. Once prepared it must be eaten quickly.

It depends. When it's the right scenario, it's just as stimulating and just as exciting for me. It's just a question of finding a piece of material that lights a fire under you.

I'm not the type of person who goes through all this effort for a movie, and then doesn't care if anybody sees it. I want them to see it, and I want them to see it on the big screen.

Everything I do in my life is very instinctual and in the moment. If I'm attracted to something, that's it. If I have reservations, those don't change till they're resolved. My first impression is how I go.

I think it's most important for children to understand the concept of respect and manners and also work ethic. I have a responsibility to those who came before me.

A lot of things I try to instill in my children comes off of what I've learned from my parents. First of all, you have to lead by example. You can't say one thing and behave another way. Kids learn more from watching you in life than what you say to them. So I try to be the best example I can be to them.