KEVIN KLINE

It never ceases to surprise me, the people I get to work with. I'm in a French film with Sandrine Bonnaire? I adore Sandrine Bonnaire. I'm doing a picture for Robert Redford? The Sundance Kid? I have to pinch myself sometimes.

I just don't think I'm a very good singer.

I totally related to Cole Porter's magnetic pull to any piano that was in the room, which he was famous for doing, as was Gershwin. You couldn't drag them away from a piano.

Dogs do have feelings, I gather.

But, I do think, on a very simplistic level, that we can project onto dogs because they are so innocent. They don't come with a lot of baggage.

It was all completely incomprehensible to me. I was fearful of the language. You had to look up every third word.

I've never felt completely satisfied with what I've done. I tend to see things too critically. I'm trying to get over that.

I don't like talking about myself. I don't like talking about my personal life.

Lots of people fantasize about what it would be like if they were president... Most think they'd be decent and wouldn't be corrupted at all, that they'd remain true to themselves.

We're all animals, but we're a different sort of animal. Maybe they're better than us. They're more loyal. They're more pure. They're more simple. They're not neurotic. Well, there are some neurotic dogs.

Some of my favorite characters that I've played have been very pompous because I love making fun of pompous people.

I think every American actor wants to be a movie star. But I never wanted to do stupid movies, I wanted to do films.

I'm a real pushover for animals.

I've got the Jewish guilt and the Irish shame and it's a hell of a job distinguishing which is which.

I can play characters who sing, but I don't like singing in a nightclub or something. It's not my metier.

Nothing makes an actor feel freer and more inventive and more creative than being trusted.

I never went to class. That the university graduated me at all is an indictment of our educational system.

Most of the comedies I've done have been rather farcical and extravagant.

I vowed I would never do a commercial, or a soap opera - both of which I did as soon as I left the Acting Company and was starving.

I had studied piano since I was 13, but I was surrounded by students who'd been playing since they were 5. I realized I was never going to be anything but mediocre.

When you have satire, it has to be real. No matter how outrageous the comedy becomes, you have to believe in the characters.

You know, actors are fans, too. And talent is very attractive to me.

Just because you're not sweating doesn't mean you're not putting in the work.

I see a steady downward slope toward oblivion over the next three years. I'm pessimistic. Everything that's happened to me so far has been kind of flukey. I went into Twentieth Century because I wanted to work for Hal Prince. The part was too small according to my agent. I had been doing only leading parts, and he thought I should continue that. But the part was enlarged in rehearsal: songs were added, and it became more physicalized and showy. Then I won awards and got attention.

People ask, 'What's the best role you've ever played?' The next one.