“I never really wanted to be an actor. And that was the beginning of it, I began to write things down and eventually became a writer on a television show.”

Even back in the ’90s, I shot certain things on something that wasn’t digital then, but it was on VHS with a smaller camera and we would up it to film.

You don’t always have to have the ending, but you want to have a satisfactory conclusion.

Some actors are supposed to be very difficult, but I’ve not found that to be the situation.

I think test screening works at its best when the audience knows what it’s getting.

Ronald Reagan was this actor who was going to be president, and he was very charming. What he had was, he talked about America in ways that got people all caught up in it. He was creating this America – it could even be the mythical “America” – that we subscribe to.

We’re never going to be the ultimate-insider look. You can do 50 insider looks at this Hollywood business, and the satire didn’t intrigue me. I think others can do that.

I always think that there is the good and the bad of it all.

I worked at a local television station and I got a chance to direct and do all those things – worked kiddie shows, Ranger House show with the hand puppets and things like that.

I thought a great line in the What Just Happened movie said, “We’re just the mayonnaise.”

I think it’s a promising time which will show a lot of diversification that we’ve seen in the past.

When I began to think about the head of the family, the storyteller, the rise of television which became the new storyteller, the break-up of the American family as an idea and then Avalon came.

Studios just sometimes make decisions on their own that you’re always flabbergasted by. It just happens that way for whatever reason – not even pointing fingers, it just is.

Craig Nelson who is an actor and is in a show called Coach in the United States. We began to do some improvisational stuff and we used to get laughs and things.

I think certain movies work and that is part of the magic of it all. We can’t truly define why something succeeds.

All I try to do is create an atmosphere that seems comfortable enough, that it removes tension and everyone feels free. If they feel free then behaviour happens, small moments happen and that’s what ultimately works the best for me.

It’s always hard to explain why an audience ultimately responds to a movie.

I think if actors don’t think of themselves as funny in real life they think they can’t do comedy.

It is better for me to serve a charity as an actor or a voice, rather than at a luncheon being just a celebrity.

There are no small parts. Only small actors.

Kevin Feige said to me: “I don’t think we’ve ever put an actor through quite as much as this, physically and mentally.” I’ll wear that as a badge of honour. It was endless.

I feel that TV and film feed off each other well. It’s more in the perception of the viewer than it is of the actor.

Actors tend to be quite good at getting on with people. If you’re an arsehole, people don’t want to work with you. You won’t get hired Well, there are a few arseholes.

There’s no shame in stealing – any actor who says he doesn’t is lying. You steal from everything.

Jerry Weintraub, the producer, might be a pain in the ass, but he really knows how to treat his actors.