Michael Madsen Quotes

I worked a lot of non-acting jobs for a really long time. They ranged from auto mechanic to landscaper to manual labor to working in a factory that made airplane parts. I even tried to go to school as a paramedic and ended up being an orderly in a hospital.

I’m not a publicity hound. I don’t care about being on the cover of ‘GQ’ or ‘Vanity Fair.’

I can’t surf, so I swim. It’s the best workout I’ve ever known because it works your entire body.

I’ve had a lot more good luck than bad, and I’ve made a lot more good pictures than bad ones, and I’m pretty happy with what I have. I don’t walk around regretting too many things.

I used to be one of those guys with a lot of angst, you know? I just don’t anymore. I’m not angst-ridden anymore. I’ve faced reality of what I am and what I have to do in life.

You get these horrifying straight-to-video things for very little money, then you go to the Cannes Film Festival, and they got some poster of you, 40 ft. high, in the worst movie in the world.

I don’t get the IMDb… I’ve called them several times myself and said, ‘Guys, look… ‘ I’ve given them specific titles that should not be on there. But they won‘t take them down.

I don’t walk around the street thinking, ‘I’m Michael Madsen,’ but then again, I am that guy, and sometimes people do take notice of me. Sometimes it’s really not comfortable.

Kids are a great excuse for you to stop acting like one.

Your children don’t have to fear you to respect you.

I wrote a poem on my leg once, on the skin.

I didn’t have much ambition, but I always had an idea in the back of my mind that I wanted to act. I would watch actors like Robert Mitchum, Humphrey Bogart, and Kirk Douglas, and I understood them.

Encourage your kids‘ artistic side. Toughen up everything else.

I don’t know if there’s anything sadder than an actor who hasn’t made a good picture, and at least I got a few good ones that will stand the test of time. I feel very fortunate about that.

Well, one thing for sure, I won’t be remembered for ‘Free Willy.’ Or maybe I will.

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.

‘BloodRayne’ was an abomination… It’s a horrifying and preposterous movie.

I’m kind of hard to double, but I did have one guy for a while as my double. I kind of like to do my own stunts, though, because it’s just the overall experience. Sometimes you have to step aside when the stuff gets really dangerous, but I feel like sometimes you have to do your own stunts to make the role seem real.

I swim a lot, almost every day. I just go out to the beach by my place in Malibu and jump into the ocean.

You know, every movie you make can’t be great, no matter who you are.

My big ambition was to be Richard Petty.

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.