A good director creates an environment, which gives the actor the encouragement to fly.
A lot of people believe in reading reviews. If I get too focused on some detail of what they've said about me, I'm going to end up shooting myself in the foot.
A lot of times, the script is the thing they care about least.
After so many years it's embarrassing to admit that I don't honestly know how much I want to be directed.
An audience would come having been fed something about how to react, and where you'd be getting tons of laughs at the preview, the next night there'd be dead silence because they'd been told that the piece isn't funny.
Any idiot can get laid when they're famous. That's easy. It's getting laid when you're not famous that takes some talent.
As I was coming up on the stage, there was one source that could make or break you, the New York Times. Inevitably there would be one actor singled out for a better review, or worse, than somebody else. The effect of that was cancerous, divisive.
Before Footloose, the things I'd done weren't cute. In Diner I was an alcoholic.
Clint Eastwood has always been a hero.
Critics can be your most important friend. I don't read criticism of my stuff only because when it's bad, it's rough-and when it's good, it's not good enough.
Doing the press, it's part of my job, so I do it with a smile on my face, but I'm not comfortable in the hot seat.
Even the people that support Bush aren't happy with the way things are going in Iraq.
Everybody's got bills to pay. Sometimes you see people just go straight for the money, and that's disappointing.
Everything happens quickly, everyone's on the phone. He's hot, and then, He's not.
Gary Oldman is impossible to steal a movie from. He's such a great actor, he's off the hook. I love him.
I always wanted, and still aspire, to be something more than just one thing, just one performance.
I always watch rushes. They give me a sense of whether I'm going in the right direction. You work hard and hopefully get encouragement from what you see.
I did all the dialect work, all my character work completely by myself.
I did not see M. I don't look at films to do films.
I didn't get into this so I could talk about my work, my movies. You become an actor to act.
I do better on the first three takes; I won't be better at 20 takes.
I do struggle with how much and in which way, as an artist or celebrity, that you voice your political views.
I don't have to do the lead. If I dig a part, I'll do it.
I don't read my own reviews and I haven't for probably 15 years. I read other people's reviews, though.
I don't really worry so much about image. I try to just live my own life, my personal life, to my own sense of morality. In terms of the kinds of characters that I play, well, they could be anything.
I don't want to stop acting, but acting in some ways is a young man's game.
I felt really strongly, as a New Yorker, that the city bonded in a way that transcended race and sex and economic status. We had an opportunity that the president just completely blew. Now we've gone so far in the other direction in terms of war and danger.
I have a natural swagger.
I just let the work speak for itself. An actor is not afraid to take risks; to put on different hats; to be a good guy, a bad guy, a victim, an abuser. There are all kinds of people in the world, and playing them is what acting is all about.
I like directing. It takes a lot out of you, but I'd like to do it again-I just have to find a story I want to tell.
I like having both pictures coming out at the same time.
I like to find something that's going through the studio system that interests me and allows me to still have some integrity about myself so I can stay part of that world.
I lost a lot of weight. I'm thin as it is, but I was probably 50 pounds lighter; and if you're that skinny, your head starts acting sort of funny.
I never think to myself that I'm working with a woman director or not.
I read the script, I go away. If I have questions, I'll ask, but then I do my work. If you don't have it in 10 takes, you're not going to have it.
I really love being an actor, and I wouldn't give it up; but playing music is an amazing feeling.
I think actors sometimes don't give their characters a sense of place.
I think we all have a lot of darkness in our bellies. As an actor, the challenge of tapping into that, reaching down into that sadness or anger, is very therapeutic.
I try not to make a decision based on what my salary is, because that's when the level of the movie is just going to go down.
I used to think when I was a kid that the director was someone who came in and made you better and brought out this amazing performance.
I was going into these very sad, lonely places, as well as all the physical stuff I was dealing with to make the movie: I was naked, shackled, and cold; they were putting bugs in my hair; and that was a real rat climbing up my leg.
I'd always tried not to worry about the size of the role or the size of the film.
I'd love to be a pop idol. Of course, my groupies are now between 40 and 50.
I'd really like to get the girl, shoot the gun, drive the car, have fun. I even have these kind of action dreams, where I'm the action guy.
I'm always happier and a better actor when I can really lose myself in a character and become somebody else.
I've made three studio albums and one live one with my brother. It's melodic singer-songwriter acoustic-rock music.
If I say I'm only going to do the big-budget movies, then I'm only going to be doing the studio movies-and there go all those opportunities.
If I'm in a situation where someone doesn't recognize me and treats me like everyone else, I'm not used to it.
If you can be associated with films that make money, it creates more opportunities to do what you want to do, so it definitely helps.
If you're an actor, even a successful one, you're still waiting for the phone to ring.
It does get old to have to always be a monkey in a zoo. I don't know what it's like any more to be anonymous.
It used to be that if a lousy movie did $100 million on the opening weekend, it would make me angry. But now, it's a good weekend for the movie business.
It's called the movie business because it's a business, and like any other business, people run to that thing they think they'll make money from.
It's probably just 10 hours out of 365 days in front of the camera, film in the camera. Not enough. It's not enough.
L.A. kind of scares me.
Living in New York definitely makes it difficult to be in the movie business.
Ninety-five percent of celebrity is good.
People asked me after JFK what I believed, and I didn't care. You presume that people are on the side of their films' beliefs, but that's just not always the case.
The business that people do in LA on the social level is amazing. You go to a restaurant, bump into this guy or that guy. The next day you get a call, and they want you in their movie.
The independents should be a place where you can challenge the studios in terms of what they're doing.
The studios, directors, casting directors, they pretty much want you to be the one you were in your last one.
There are people who tell you to shut up because you're just a celebrity, but pundits, talking heads, they're every bit the celebrity and a lot of them aren't any more qualified than the average man on the street.
There are some actor secrets you keep sometimes, and you want to keep.
There are very few things that are purely conceptual without any hard content.
There's an ebb and flow, too, a natural progression in the organism of this business.
There's one thing I've tried to work for my whole life-to try to play different kinds of guys and not do the same thing ever.
There's the most resistance to an actor singing. It's like I'm being disloyal to my industry.
Those moments right before we invaded, I wish that I could have done something. But professionally, I don't go in that direction of choosing things based on personal politics.
When I met Kyra, I didn't think I needed anyone. But I did. I needed her.
While we were filming we were hit with the big Northridge earthquake in LA. I've never been through anything like that before. The whole set starting falling apart.
There are two films with songs by the Bacon Brothers on the soundtrack: "When You Decide You've Stayed Too Long" from 2003's Red Betsy and "Chop Wood (Carry Water)" from 2005's The Woodsman, which Kevin produced and starred in. Kevin also co-wrote the song "Medium Rare" for his 1997 film Telling Lies in America.
Kevin appeared in a television commercial for the Visa Check Card that parodied the "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" game. In the commercial, he wants to write a check to buy a book, but the clerk asks for ID and Kevin doesn't have it. So Kevin leaves and comes back with a group of people and says to the clerk, "Okay, I was in a movie with an extra, Eunice, whose hairdresser, Wayne, attended Sunday school with Father O'Neill, who plays racquetball with Dr. Sanjiy, who recently removed the appendix of Kim, who dumped you sophomore year. So you see, we're practically brothers."
Kevin was in a magazine advertisement about climate change. The ad was from the Union of Concerned Scientists. Part of the ad's text was "Six degrees can make a world of difference. Not separation... temperature."
In 2006, Kevin appeared in a T-shirt advertising campaign for Hanes; the internet ads included a link where viewers could listen to his band's music.
In 2005, Kevin was nominated for a Teen Choice Award for his role in the movie Beauty Shop in the category "Best Movie Sleazebag".
In his free time, Kevin participates in Riverkeeper, an organization that works to keep the Hudson River clean and preserve New York City's drinking water supply.
In 2004, Kevin received the John Cassavetes Award at the Denver International Film Festival. The award is presented to an American director or actor for "unique vision and maverick sensibility in independent film-making."
In 2005, Kevin received the Copper Wing Tribute Award at the Phoenix Film Festival.
In 2003, Kevin, along with his co-stars Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden, Laura Linney, Sean Penn, and Tim Robbins won the Boston Society of Film Critics Award for "Best Ensemble Cast" for the movie Mystic River (2003).
Kevin was awarded the Bronze Gryphon at the Giffoni Film Festival in the category of "Best Actor" for his role in Digging To China (1998).
In 2005, Kevin was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award in the category of "Best Male Lead" for his role in the movie, The Woodsman (2004).
Kevin shared a nomination for "Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture" by the Screen Actors Guild for the movie Mystic River, 2003, with cast members: Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden, Laura Linney, Sean Penn, and Tim Robbins.
On September 30, 2003, Kevin received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located at 6356 Hollywood Boulevard.
Kevin met his future wife, actress Kyra Sedgwick, while filming Lemon Sky in which they both starred.
He and his brother Michael formed a band in 1994 called The Bacon Brothers. They play country-folk music, and as of 2005, have released five albums.
Kevin's height is 5'11".
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