JEFF DANIELS

You see a lot of these movies that are really just 90-minute video games. The effects are incredible. I get it: There's an art to that, terrific. I'm not interested in it, but there's an art to that I suppose.

Every actor just wants good writing.

On cable now, the writer is king. Any actor chases that.

I think the American electorate should work a little harder at getting informed. That includes hearing, truly listening, to what the other side is saying. Whether you're left or right.

Well, the music industry is littered with actors who belatedly came to singing.

I have done all of the genres, and the dramatic role is my favorite.

I love the theater, but if I had to choose, I would choose a film at this time in my life. Something meaty, to sink my teeth into.

I never said, 'I'm going to be a big star.' I said, 'I'm going to be a good actor.' And that took the pressure off.

There are so many projects that you go into hoping the story works, and here comes a new third act and that kind of thing.

I'm the guy to call. Look at the resume. I have kids of my own. I have dogs.

One of the more noble things the Oscars can do is pay attention to movies no one knows about. Blockbusters don't need much help.

Our kids are in their twenties now, which is a wonderful time.

And regardless of the fact that in this country, certainly in the arts, we treat comedy as a second-class citizen, I've never thought of it that way. I've always thought it to be important. The last time I looked, the Greeks were holding up two masks. I've always thought of it not only as having equal value, but as the craft of it, being funny.

I never starved. And you know, whatever talent I have, I've relied on that, versus image or star. I have just said, 'Hire me if you want somebody good.' I tried to be as good as I could be every time out, and that's kind of bridged the decades.

And that's one thing that helps me is I learn it blandly, vanilla, then I don't try to act it too soon because you start to act it, and you kind of go away from what the next sentence is, what the next paragraph is. So get it down so it kind of can - it's in there so you can then, as I call it, dance on top of it.

The older you get, and the more you're in this business, the more you kind of feel like, 'Why don't we just do it my way?'

The indie world changed when the economy went south. I was frustrated with doing something, then waiting for it to come out, and sometimes it never did, or would just play in New York for 50 people. So I really wanted to try something else.

I think it's a style of acting that you trust. You trust the instincts.

You know, it's really strange now with the Internet, with everyone having an unsolicited, anonymous opinion.

I know there are people, if I go into a market or a city for the first time, there are people that are there that just want to see the famous person, or the guy from 'Dumb and Dumber' or whatever movie they liked. And that's fine, it gets them in the door, but then it's my job to give them something different.

And the actors tend not to want to watch themselves very often. I'm one of those guys.

I think we have the attention span of a gnat. You know, with cell phones and Twitter.

I always wanted to do films. I'd gone to New York early in 1976 and did a lot of theater, but I really wanted to chase the paths of people like Pacino and Lemmon and those guys. Alan Arkin. Film was where I wanted to go.

As an actor, you're always at the service of somebody else's vision. In a play, it's more of the director's vision, and he or she's got their hands on you all the way up to opening night, and if it's a film, there are even more people.

I think Michigan keeps you sane and on an even keel through the ups and downs. In Michigan, I do fireworks, shovel snow and live life.