Happy Birthday

Turning 88 Today: Dustin Hoffman

festreviews Happy Birthday

QUOTES:

  • You go to the cinema and you realize you’re watching the third act. There is no first or second act. There is this massive film-making where you spend this incredible amount of money and play right to the demographic. You can tell how much money the film is going to make by how it does on the first weekend. The whole culture is in the crap house. It’s not just true in the movies, it’s also true in the theater.

I got into acting so that I could meet girls. Pretty girls came later. First, I wanted to start off with someone with two legs, who’d smile at me and look soft.

We all believe what we read. I read how Tom Cruise and I were two big egos holding up shooting. I know that isn’t true – but if I wasn’t making a movie with him and I just picked up the paper, I’d believe it. That’s interesting, isn’t it?



Turning 43 Today: Abbie Cornish

festreviews Happy Birthday

QUOTES

[on doing nude scenes] The hardest part is getting your clothes off at first in front of the people who haven’t seen you naked before. The first time you get nude in front of someone, it’s hard, and then it’s, “Well, you’ve seen everything now; it’s OK, we can shoot the rest of the day”.

[on her parents’ divorce] I think as a child you know when it’s time for your parents to split. You realize they love each other, but they’re not in love with each other. And I think as a child it’s much better for your parents to split than for them to stay and have dysfunction within the family.

Whenever I am acting, it’s everything, you know. If I’m researching a role, I’m completely consumed in that and, between action and cut, I live in this suspended time. It’s a really amazing experience and the only other thing I get it from is music.

Turning 65 Today: David Duchovny

festreviews Happy Birthday

QUOTES:

  • I never, ever, ever cook. And I would never eat anything I might cook.
  • I’m half Jewish, half Scottish. It’s hard for me to buy anything.
  • Privacy is something I have come to respect. I think when I was younger I wanted to tell everybody everything, because I thought I was so damn interesting. Then I heard the snoring.
  • I’ve always been overly concerned about what people think which has resulted in a lot of in
  • ner turmoil. I try not to give a damn but inside I’m a huge ball of worry.
  • If you’re smart, you’ll always be humble. You can learn all you want, but there’ll always be somebody who’s never read a book who’ll know twice what you know.

Turning 62 Today: Harold Perrineau

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Perrineau is his mother’s maiden name, and his father is Harold Williams Sr. His parents never married, so he used both names growing up, eventually settling on Williams. When he joined SAG there was already a Harold Williams, so he took the Perrineau from his mom and the Jr. from his dad for his stage name, even though there is no actual Harold Perrineau Sr.

Turning 51 Today: Michael Shannon

festreviews Happy Birthday

QUOTES:

  • [on if he’s inherently drawn to unhinged characters, or is this what people just tend to cast him in] It’s probably a combination of things. When people are casting things, movies and what not, they go on impressions they have of people, you know. The impressions they have of you are based on what they’ve seen you in. But I also think I find a lot of differences in the characters I’ve played, regardless of whether they may be violent or angry or act out or, you know, have lapses of control. I still find them all pretty interesting in their own regard, and not incredibly similar. I think if you took scenes from each of the films and put them on a loop, or played them back to back, you would maybe see more of the subtle differences between them. I think part of the reason I got into this was because I’m generally in touch with the uneasy side of myself and things in general, probably. I think the world’s an uneasy place, filled with anxiety and problems, so maybe the voices of the characters I play are representative of that.
  • [on what makes him smile] My daughter. She makes me smile, and my family. I think a lot of times what makes you smile is unexpected, it catches you off guard, surprises you; something may make you smile one day and it may not necessarily make you smile the next. It’s a mystery what makes any of us happy and [happiness is] usually fleeting.
  • [on if he feels he has an “intense” or conflicted-looking face as seemingly others do] Well, there seems to be something inherently intense about my face – I guess my bone structure. Even if I’m just sitting in a totally neutral state, not thinking about anything in particular, that [intensity] is projected on my face. I have wondered over the years why that is. A friend of mine once said it looks like I have psychic baggage, which I guess is true to a certain extent – although I have a hard time imagining anybody who doesn’t. I guess it just comes through maybe more clearly on my face than other people’s faces. I don’t know.

Turning 50 Today: Charlize Theron

festreviews Happy Birthday

QUOTES:
[on the revelation that her mother shot and killed her father while he was in a drunken rage, which was ruled self-defense] I was always Mama’s girl, and I always felt like her protector.

Women have conquered the world. And with everything we go through, it’s about time we had a female president. I don’t think we’re that far away, but it should have happened already. I wouldn’t be surprised if Hillary Clinton runs – I really admire her.

I’ve always been very proud to be a South African and I’ve always been very honest to people about that. And whatever I can do in my power, I promise you, I will do. I don’t think it’s too much pressure. I think it’s our duty as citizens of this country. You don’t have to win an Oscar to do something good for your country. We all can do that. If I can be an encouragement for that I’ll be glad to be that.

Vera Farmiga: Turning 52 Today!

festreviews Happy Birthday
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QUOTES:

  • I can’t do Los Angeles. I’ve always been the anti-Barbie. I don’t want to be in a place where almost every woman walks around with puffy lips, little noses and breasts large enough to nourish a small country. As a kid I wanted attention, so I started praying for glasses because everyone had ace vision in my family. Then one day my eyes started going bad and never stopped.
  • It’s terrifying to be the lead. There’s a moment of excitement, and then pure terror.
  • I really don’t feel a need to be famous. But I do feel a need to make a difference, to shed light on human emotion through acting.
  • There are some times when I think acting can be a noble profession.
  • I’m not in this for the achievement. I’m in it for the illumination. That’s how I choose my roles, that’s how I attract roles — it’s a very spiritual process for me. And it’s the only way I can continue, and stay interested. The acting…it’s really a vocation.

Michelle Yeoh: Turning 63 Today!

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QUOTES:

  • The reason why I decided to wait two years after the Bond movie, and to work with Ang Lee in a martial arts movie, is because I really believe that this genre deserves more respect and dignity than it’s ever been given. Before, people saw it as a fairy tale; they felt they could take it easy. But it shouldn’t be about that. It’s so steeped in our culture, it should have more depth to it. It’s never easy to find that balance, when it’s such a magical type of film, to make you accept our soaring to the skies . . . it was a risk, but when we did this movie, it was for a Western audience.
  • Learning how to walk in a kimono was an art form in itself – if you didn’t learn to do it properly it was like dragging a dead cat across the floor! We had to walk with a piece of paper between your knees and a tea tray balanced on your head.
  • In Asia, we constantly play Koreans, Malay, Chinese. We do not question that, as you do not question an Englishman playing an American or a German.
  • I prefer to be kicked four or five times well, you know, hard, than twenty or twenty five times not so good…

Melissa George: Turning 49 Today

festreviews Happy Birthday

QUOTES:

  • The great thing about film is you start and finish. It’s a journey that lasts so long, TV lasts a long time.
  • The part I enjoy about acting is just having that imagination, taking your mind to a place that you wouldn’t normally necessarily go to.
  • [on her film Sugar & Spice (2001)] Huge party, from the day we started until we wrapped in Minneapolis. We’d all go to coffee in the morning and we became best friends. We were so excited to be in an all-girl film. It was one big shopping spree. They put us in this hotel across from a shopping mall, and we were often late for work!
  • No matter what the character is, I just say to myself “If I, Melissa George, was in that situation, how would I react?” and once you do that you can just go for it, and hopefully the performance comes through.