Christoph Waltz Quotes

You can't always do the extraordinary, in between you have to do the ordinary. Because if you didn't, what would constitute the extraordinary?

The villain is usually the most interesting part. But it has to be a smart thing. Just dumb cliché villains with a Russian accent and big muscles and a mean face, I don’t know. My Russian accent isn’t that great, and the muscles aren’t that big and the mean face is not enough. You know what I mean? It gets very boring. Tedious stuff.

Becoming an actor is like becoming a father. It's not hard to become one. Making a life of it is the challenge.

Facts can be so misleading, where rumors, true or false, are often revealing.

You're always being cast for what you've been in last.

You need the villain. If you don't have a villain, the good guy can stay home.

A silly comedy needs a straight guy, and that guy needs to be as straight as possible. The moment you start playing straight you're not straight anymore, you're bent straight, so it really requires the usual serious, straight-forward analysis and research, looking into it and finding the dramatic function, all of what you do until you feel you've collected enough points to safely and securely play the part.

What it really is and what I now have experienced is that, people who take enormous pride in what they're doing - not in their person - that their work ethos is as high as nowhere else.That they love their jobs, they love to do their jobs properly as best they can. And coupled with the financial umph, you know, you get decent results.

It's a wonderful narrative device to bring someone from the outside and look through his eyes if you want to describe the absurdity and preposterous reality that is accepted amongst the ones who are inside.

That's exactly what I'm driving at. 'Basterds' was interesting because it was, in a way, unfamiliar. I thought well, OK. Let's leave the comfort zone and just risk it. Why not? Because, exactly as you said, in a way, by taking that risk, I make up a little bit for my ignorance in the subject, or rather, the genre.

You know, I don't talk about the characters that I play. Years ago, I was a little timid about it and I kind of squirmed when I was asked, 'Could you tell us something about your character.' Now with a little self-confidence that comes with the grey beard, I just flatly refuse.

If the shoe fits, you must wear it.

I don't say things straight into the other person's face. I kind of like to make a joke or a remark and make it digestible or just give a little comment that voices my concern, but is not meant to be a critique, but just a comment so that he understands that I am thinking.

I think Stephen Sondheim is a - and I hardly ever use this word - but this is as close as it gets to a genius.

I have always been so interested in film as a medium.

One does not contradict the other.Straight-faced is the basis of all decent comedy.

I only do what I like to do.

I have nothing to do with comics. I know nothing about comics. I am aware of the importance of comics, but they're not within my world. Not because I feel that I'm above it, but just that micro-surgery is not in my world either. Is that a deficit or is that an advantage?

If I jumped into the cliché, everybody will have seen it before. If I stick to my ignorance a little bit, maybe, maybe it will turn out different. Or maybe a slightly new aspect to a comic book villain.

I guess there are no real strict rules [in comedy], but I just learn to apply my philosophy about comedy which is, it's a serious business and the result needs to be funny, not the process.

I had to learn how to drive a cement truck because there is a whole car chase with cement trucks, so I had to learn how to drive a cement truck. I don't like these things, but I'm not an idiot. I can do it.

To be fair, on a good project, no matter whether it's improvised or scripted or meticulously prepared, or all up for grabs, it's always, always beyond the safety zone. Every project becomes interesting and exciting once you move beyond that routine. You always aspire to that. It's not that this improvisational mode is the only mode that facilitates that.

I'm open to working anywhere, but not on anything.

You know, I don't support esoteric approaches to acting.

I'm not into weapons. I'm not into cars. I'm not into explosions. I'm scared of all of that.

I take praise as not just a reward and a result but also as the beginning of a new process.

Ten flashing lights are a nuisance but 500 are fantastic.

Comedy is the result of what's happening, not what people are doing. Because if people are doing comedy. It's embarrassing. The individual elements have to be straight-faced, serious, realistic with a firm basis. What makes it comedy is a somewhat shifted way to put it together.

I'm very bad with improvisation. I hate it.

I don't like to read novelizations of movies.

I'm trying to be very aware of not repeating myself.

By looking into more details of American history, we can make more sense of what's happening today.

What I liked so much while shooting [a movie], I might not like anymore when I see it or vice versa. The two are connected but not on a causal level.

There is quite an important director in Germany who I think in the early fifties over here, and then went back, and he said something that's absolutely true. And it's more important to repeat that today than it ever was. Not for you, but for us over there it is important. He said, 'In America they make movies like art, and sell it like commodities. We make make movies like commodities and sell them like art.'

I worked next to an elephant. And considering that she could step on your toes, it's a good idea to keep a certain distance. It's also a good idea to befriend the trainer.

I go with the most interesting thing that comes my way,I don't expect it to come from India to tell you the truth, but if it did, fine by me.

Effortless [performance] and improvisation are two different things. Just because it's improvised doesn't mean it's effortless and just because it's effortless doesn't necessarily mean it's improvised.

I'd sort of acquired somewhat more mature perspective on what my career is and I don't...not anymore...consider fame and fortune my career. I'm not a star. I'm an actor. So in a way, what I want to do as an actor, I would consider good for my career. Does that make sense?

There's the beauty of the stage. I don't like filmed theater or opera because you're kind of playing soccer in a hockey game. Either or, they don't do justice to the media and you end up with a hybrid that is purely sensationalistic. Opera is a very theatrical medium that should be seen on a stage with the musicians in the pit in the audience.

Mine is studying script and being very academic and trying to be important.

I have my brain switched on and I might be thinking something else but we've come to an arrangement. That sort of play is maybe easier with someone who also thinks that way. But that is not necessarily a national thing, but maybe a little bit of a cultural thing.

I'm not really all that familiar with comic book culture. Not because I'm such a high brow intellectual and bloody European. But it's just something that I was never into. Not because of any superiority. I don't know why.

For me, personally, there is one really interesting thing. You're all a bit too young for that, but when you get to a certain level of experience, accumulation of experience you start slowly to once in a while get a whiff of the feeling, I'd love to be twenty years younger but with what I know and have experienced at this point.

It's the economics, that's why opera is not dying but gets more and more difficult to put on.

There are plenty of people over there who understand the difference. And there are plenty of people over here who understand the difference. It's still one world and it has been for a long time.

I used to hate exposure situations. What is generally referred to as 'red carpet.'

For a while, I couldn't decide whether or not I should pursue singing in the opera or acting. And I'm glad that I chose the latter because I wasn't a very good singer.

Stephen Sondheim I am in awe of.

I think in Europe, movies are made like a commodity and then sold as art.

I’m not really all that familiar with comic book culture.