Catherine Keener Quotations

I'm not a public figure at all. I don't really go out a lot to places where there are people like those who sit at the bottom of your driveway.

Insecurity is just something that's there all the time. I've never been crippled by it.

If you give a character room to breathe, they come alive.

I just never fantasized about Mr. Rogers, but I like his whole vibe.

I'm unqualified for anything else. I'm barely qualified for this.

The more people involved in making a movie, the worse it is, generally.

If you work in casting, it's sort of not cool to want to act. A lot of people think that casting directors are frustrated actors, but it wasn't true with any of the casting people I knew.

I know many great actors who have small heads.

I think people are always looking for a good comedy.

I don't think I'm very ambitious at all. But I seem to play people who have that quality.

The movies I'm in not a lot of people see, but it's alright.

Sometimes it just doesn't translate to people. You just move on, and you feel bad because people worked so hard on it and everyone loved it... Everybody was treated so well and was going for something and trying to do the best work possible.

The movies I usually do are maybe three or four weeks because they don't have a lot of money.

These days there are a lot of people who just want to be famous. I think that comes from a naive place, because those people generally don't know what it's like.

I've worked with a lot of great directors.

I... had guys on the set who didn't like me... they weren't interested in the cold character.

Most times when people pitch you as being perfect for a part... they don't look at you as an actor who can transform. A lot of people are so literal.

The people who make those movies tend to be studios, because they need a lot of money to do it, and those people don't hire me.

The celebrity-making machine-photographers, paparazzi, press and stuff like that-can be ruthless.

When I was in college, at Wheaton-I inadvertently got cast in a play, and I had a really great time doing it. I didnt know I had any knack for it, but I really enjoyed myself. It was a complete surprise.

I encounter really tough men and women who are just so harsh, you can't bend them. You do come across these kinds of people in every profession-just unyielding.

I was a waitress. I was pretty good at it. I liked to solve those puzzles-you know, when to put the dinner order in, that sort of thing.

You know, Salma Hayek is a great cook, and she's a friend.. She's an amazing cook. If she opened up a restaurant, I would so get in on the coattails.

I have a hard time visualizing anything, which is why I'm not a director, and which is why I try to work with ones I know have a strong idea in mind.

I thought you weren't going to go there.

Or if it means too much. If it's just a hump that you can't get over, which can happen, it can just poison a relationship.

It does help that Dermot is an actor. I hate having to care about that stuff. But I know it's legitimate and he appreciates what the ramifications are.

Your head shouldn't swell about it. You can't take it personally.

For a long time Dermot worked more, and I would always go on location with him... Dermot did all the work-I think he commuted maybe 10 times between flying to Omaha from Toronto. It takes effort when you're both working, but we try not to work at the same time.

It's important for me to connect with the script and to know after meeting the director if it's a person I'm going to feel unguarded around.

It occurred to me that it would be interesting to be a man for a short amount of time, just to see if there actually is a difference in the way that we think and feel, like people are always talking about. I don't really know that there's a difference, because I've only been a woman.

I'm pretty organized. I'm pretty controlling. I don't have big plans or designs. But I don't rely on a Palm Pilot or help or other technology-no! I'm barely good with emailing and a fax machine. I organize things in my head; I have a pretty good memory, so that helps me out a lot.

If you look at the parts... they are really great parts, and the writing is always great, and the people that I've been able to work with are amazing.

In these situations that I've been involved in, people are going toward a common goal, which is to do good work. The crew will go out of their way to make you feel comfortable and give you an encouraging pat on the back. Everybody just works toward that objective, and it's really helpful in a performance. It's dire for me.

I haven't had a lot of time to reflect on what's just happened, but I do know that it was really good and I'm very happy with all the jobs. It wasn't intentional that I kind of wanted to mix it up a little bit. But I did know - I was aware of this - a couple years back of starting to be perceived as this tough, urban, blah blah blah. One person writes that and then another person will and then it becomes true. I didn't feel that way. I felt like everybody was different.

I read the script about five times, out loud, and I still had no idea what it meant.

I don't see him as a total nerd, ... I think he's a regular guy who got freaked out about sex early on, because people do. And I think he's just kind of a normal guy who collects action figures.

You know, Salma Hayek is a great cook, and she's a friend... She's an amazing cook. If she opened up a restaurant, I would so get in on the coattails.