There's drama in everything. That's why I love movies. Like Welcome to the Dollhouse, I'm a 350-pound black man, and I could understand what it was like to be a little white girl.
If everyone's happy, then I'm the character where when I enter that means there's trouble. In a movie, when I enter, it's not a good thing. But I know where I'm at. But, you know, you don't have to call me by my character's name for months on end. Football taught me that, because you can go from being best friends to having to play that person on another team, you have to be able to turn that on and off. You need to find that middle ground.
I have to say, Any Given Sunday was good, but it was too ambitious. You can't do everything in three hours. It went on through ownership issues, quarterback issues, the running back issues, LT issues, and all that, even the coach issues. It was too much. Whereas, Playmakers says, Yeah, you got all those problems, but my god, you're playing football, you're doing the best thing in the world. You're playing football, you're having fun, you're getting paid to play a game. Well, with all the bad things about Hollywood all the drug use, all that, it's still a pretty good life.
The difference between me and Tiny Lister is that he has never been the greatest actor, he hasn't been able to do a lot of big talking parts in movies, or even... he kind of has one emotion. He never looks at his career as an obstacle, he only looks at the positives. He's done... he knows, he has an opportunity. I mean, you see in a script, "Tiny Lister" type, you know you've made your mark. I mean on Friday After Next, that's what everyone expected me to be the new Tiny because it was that sort of part to fill that role, but if you look at the movie, there was a lot more there.
If you look at the parts I've played and the movies I've done... I mean you have to work with the stereotype. The stereotype gets you paid, it gets you in the business. If they're looking for a white housewife, they're going to go for Joan Cusack.
A football team is like a society, straight up. There are rapists, but there are creatures and there are film guys.
I had a party to raise money, spent 15 grand on the party alone. People ate, drank and left. I thought all these bigwig ballplayers would give; you know I had all the big players come. Nothing, I lost money on that party. I think maybe someone put like $400 in the pot or something. I was like come on, throw me a bone!
I was always more of a film guy than an athlete guy. I had an art scholarship at Western.
I consider myself a feminist. My whole life has been about standing up for women, for anybody really, who's been abused.
You haven't experienced anything until you've been to Africa. You know the world is bigger than you are after you see Africa.
By myself, I'm a hard pill. My wife makes me look real good, because she smoothes my rough edges. That's why I say, "Take your wife everywhere. It's a good thing."
My mantra is "I don't want to let anybody down." Maybe that's not the right attitude, because you can't please everybody. But I'm giving it everything I've got.
I love the urban comedies, because they keep you famous, keep you having fun, and keep you in love with the business. Those are my roots. I'll always love doing those.
You have to empathize with your children. If you love them, you never really get too angry with them when they make a mistake, because kids are expected to make mistakes. Having children, you start to see yourself through them.
I'm not guaranteeing that if you work hard you'll be able to duplicate my success. But in America, if you work hard, you just might. I'm a perfect example of that.
I'll never forget my worst business decision. I bought a Nissan Pathfinder with my first signing bonus. I didn't even have a place to live, but I bought a car. Not a smart move but, believe me, I learned from that mistake.
A lot of my colleagues are content to be character actors who are always in the background. I'm not that guy. I'm the guy who wants the limelight. Gimme the ball and I'll run it through a brick wall for you. I'll be your biggest soldier.
You only have but so much time to make an impact or people will forget you. My goal always is to make the biggest impact possible.
I just see the opportunities and I go for them. I don't want to play my career safe. I've had my successes and I've had a few failures, too. But you just keep going and do the best that you can. That's what I've learned.
Timidity has no place in a major action movie. You have to know how to take your moments. Sometimes walking out the door is just walking out the door. But when it's your moment, you have to go for it.
I've always had this juxtaposition of characters, because I'm an artist. I'm a very quiet person at home and introspective and the whole deal, and then I can be really big later. I had no problem.
I kind of put myself out there a lot just because I trust the people I'm working with. You have to see what works and what doesn't. Sometimes it's not my job to find that out, it's just my job to do what the character calls for. And if you change the character I'll do that too.
When you have writers who recognize they're making a wrong turn and correct it, I knew I was in good hands.
A lot of times people are too ego caught up where they made the decision and "We're going to stick with it" and then I had to suffer.
I would have been a lot more nervous if I would had known that Matthew McConaughey was [on 30th Annual Television Critics Association Awards] and Julia Louis-Dreyfus was there and all that, and I was like, "Wait a minute and Bryan Cranston's here..." I think I would have got more nervous. But I think thinking it was just like, "Oh yeah critics, we're good." It was great.
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