Michael McKean Quotes

Working with Bryan Cranston on 'Breaking Bad' has been totally thrilling because he is so clear in his approach.

You play a hologram on 'Star Trek,' and you have to spew line after line. I spoke in paragraphs on 'Star Trek.'

Acting-wise, I haven't done a lot of comedy, so I would love to work with Jane Lynch. I think she's hilarious.

I've worked with actors who were very helpful and a lot better than I was.

When you're in something like 'Game of Thrones' and get the chance to play a part like Bronn, with that cast and with Peter Dinklage, it's wonderful.

Soaps are the best. They really are. If you can do a soap, well, you can do anything. You have to learn pages of dialogue very quickly.

But when you work with the director and the real person who is playing opposite you, it changes everything. You are almost in a working session. I was very comfortable, and that's maybe what helped me to get the part.

Actually, my favourite roles have been in theatre, but on TV, my faves were Slap Maxwell and Larry Sanders.

I'm more verbal and not as private as I was as a kid. I still do a form of sense memory. It honestly depends on the job. It depends on the other people you're working with, how the other actor works.

Wayne was coming out of a session as Mickey for 'Totally Minnie.' We met in the hallway. We just blended really well.

I was very fortunate to have had three years on 'Fresh Meat,' before working on 'Not Safe for Work.' Comedy drama is a very hard genre to nail so I was very glad to have had some practice.

I did play a dentist in Waiting for Guffman. I wrote the speech at the conference. In the original script, when it got to that scene, it was, 'Thank you very much. Good night.' Literally. I just thought, 'He keeps talking about this speech. The keynote address is the big thing in his life and this is too important to say, "Thank you. Good night." I think we have to see and hear him doing what he does.' So I got together with my dentist and we worked through a few things.

I think that all the Mel Brooks' company of actors is just tremendous. It was a crazy group of genius people. All of them taught me what kind of actor I should be and what was funny.

I never like to sit and discuss my character, the other character, our relationship, or anything like that. I feel like if I did my job and I trust that the other person has done theirs, you just go on set, play around with it, chew the scene for a little bit; then we roll, and that's it.

I was in several school performances, mainly Shakespeare and comedic roles. I just accidentally became an actor. I totally didn't expect this.

I had never really acted before, so I really didn't know what I was doing. The casting director for 'Euphoria' set me up with an acting coach in New York, and he completely flipped my world around. The way you learn to utilize your brain and your emotions really freaked me out.

Different actors have different rhythms. My goal as a director is to let these guys get their best work out.

Acting is really a give-and-take; it's a dance.

What I can say, categorically, is that working with Sarah Paulson and Kathy Bates will have been the most formative experience for me, as an actor, for the rest of my life.

I've done some movies before when you have months, or three weeks at least, to train and to learn choreography.

When acting, I can wear another person's clothes and act out the attractiveness of a particular character, which is very interesting for me. Singing is something I love as well.

I had really great time working with Irrfan Khan and Deepak Dobriyal.

If acting with other people is in your plans, then you need to learn how to work with other people to build a comedic premise.

You were taught how to do the things you needed to do. Dance, speech, fencing. They groomed people. If you were in a film, and the script wasn't working for you, they brought in screenwriters and fixed the scripts.

With fiction, I've grown to really love the challenge of lying, the challenge of telling a good tale that isn't truthful, and working with performers is endlessly fascinating. You know, learning what a good performance is, how to get a good performance, how much or how little you need to create emotion or to create character.