John Cage's Quotes

Shock is still fun. I won't ever shut the door on it.

As I got older, with my work, I became aware of the responsibility of film, and I feel one of the best ways I can apply myself as an actor, is to go beyond movie stardom and celebrity.

At a young age, I was interested in comic books, which was really how I learnt to read. The name Cage came from a comic book character called Power Man.

I hit the ground running, without a lot of training, so I had to do whatever I could do to survive as a professional, and if that meant being that character 24/7 and acting out, I was going to do that. I lived those characters, I brought them home with me.

I may be alone in this, but I do sense the power of film, in that movies have the ability to literally change people's minds. That's pretty powerful stuff when you consider that.

I want to make all kinds of movies. I do want to make big movies that are a lot of fun to go to, but I also want to make movies that are going to stimulate some thought and maybe raise some awareness.

I would definitely return to Austria. They were all good experiences for me, but definitely Austria because there were some ancient Celtic, sacred sites that were in the forest that were quite beautiful.

I'm an enormous admirer of Christopher Lee. He's somebody, along with Vincent Price, who I celebrate, and I wanted my movies to show that celebration and that honoring of these great film stars that were unafraid to go into horror and Grand Guignol and the macabre.

I'm at the point now where I know I'm doing something right when a movie gets mixed reviews, because then I'm not in the box. I don't want to make it too easy for people and I don't want to make it too easy for myself. I want to try something unusual.

I'm sticking my tongue out in scenes to try to make that work in 3D. I'm thinking I'll try to get my tongue all the way out to the second row of the audience.

Mel Blanc is a hero because of what he could do with his voice for all the Looney Tunes, the Warner Brothers cartoons, to be the voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Porky Pig.

I am not a demon. I am a lizard, a shark, a heat-seeking panther. I want to be Bob Denver on acid playing the accordion.

Passion is very important to me. If you stop enjoying things, you've got to look at it, because it can lead to all kinds of depressing scenarios.

I wanted to make an image for myself as an outlaw type. A kind of rock 'n' roll sensibility.

All of my characters have a glint of madness.

There's a fine line between the Method actor and the schizophrenic.

I came out of independent film, that's my roots.

I think I jump around more when I'm alone.

I was always shocked when I went to the doctor's office and they did my X-ray and didn't find that I had eight more ribs than I should have or that my blood was the color green.

To be a good actor you have to be something like a criminal, to be willing to break the rules to strive for something new.

Having been a father for 19 years I realise fatherhood has changed me.

If I could have been a marine biologist I would have, but I didn't have that kind of intelligence. Numbers were never my strong point.

For me, acting was a way of taking destructive energy and doing something productive with it, and in that way it was quite a life saver.

I like fantasy. I like horror, science fiction because I can get avant-garde with those performances in those movies.

I try to do as many stunts as they'll let me do. I think it's important for an audience to feel that the actor's really doing it.

Hollywood didn't know if I was an actor or a nut or if I was this crazy character I was playing. I had developed an image of being a little bit unusual, different and wild.

Actors have an opportunity to use storytelling as a way to solve pain.

As a teenager I was more of an anarchist, but now I want people to thrive and be harmonious.

Disney has a great tradition of enchanting children and giving them something to behold.

How do you rebel in a family of rebels?

My father was always getting excited about something. It's genetically inside me somewhere.

The biggest problem for me was feeling that as I became more balanced and a better man that I wouldn't have the fire to create from.

And what I like about it is it makes me happy and I think it makes a lot of people happy to go to the movies and to not think about the problems of the day or the problems of tomorrow or the yesterday and just go on for the ride and have the fun of losing oneself in a fantasy.

I bought a Yamaha-1 and I was doing 180 miles per hour home on the 405 and that's really, really crazy but I did it.

I care about the connection with the audience. Film is such a powerful medium. Movies can change the way people think.

I do enjoy animated movies.