I don't love being an actor, but I'm not qualified to be anything else. I was an auto mechanic and drove a tow truck and tried to go to school to be a paramedic.
What people don't always understand is that I established a certain lifestyle for my family back in the days of 'Species' and 'Mulholland Falls' and 'The Getaway.' I wasn't about to move my six kids into a trailer park. So when people offered me work, it wasn't always the best, but I had to buy groceries, and I had to put gas in the car.
Encourage your kids' artistic side. Toughen up everything else.
Maybe I was just born in the wrong era, man. I'm a bit of a throwback to the days of black and white movies. Those guys back then, they had a certain kind of directness about them. A lot of the screenplays, the plots were very simplistic - they gave rise to a type of anti-hero that maybe I suit better.
When you play a character that's someone real, when you're playing a true story, it's really great 'cause you're not pretending to make up some silly thing.
'L.A. Confidential' was written with me in mind, but Russell Crowe got the part. Go figure.
