A job is a job. And I like to work. by Brent Spiner

A job is a job. And I like to work.

Brent Spiner

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I think honestly, believe it or not, that Dude, Where's My Car? in a way represents its time better than almost any film made around that.

car believe thinking

You look at that movie [Dude, Where's My Car?] now, and you know exactly when it was made. And that's what kids were like then.

That's what kids were like then. So I really like the movie [Dude, Where's My Car? ], I think it's genuinely funny, and I wish I hadn't been so arrogant about it. And, of course, I didn't know it was going to be my best work, either.

car kids thinking

I think Night Court was the first thing I did when I came out to Hollywood. It was just one of those things that... I'm from Texas, and it was a character I'd been doing when I was a kid, just for fun.

fun character kids

Rick Berman, who produced Star Trek, was a big Night Court fan. So he knew who I was as soon as I walked in.

fans stars night

[Billy Bob Conroy role] that was a favor. Actually, the lady who cast Night Court asked me to do it, because it was a Friday, and the person who'd been rehearsing it all week got sick and couldn't come to the taping. And she figured I could put it together pretty quickly - it was not all that big a challenge, frankly - and I said, "Of course." I owed her, after all. Gilda Stratton was her name. She was a really, really nice person. So I did it.

friday nice night

I felt like I was a natural [in The Simpsons]. by Brent Spiner

I felt like I was a natural [in The Simpsons].

I don't know if the character's come back and it was someone else playing it, or maybe they never did it again. But I loved it. It was a great part [The Joker] to play.

knows play character

Rent Control was an interesting movie. It was directed by... I had done a couple of plays off Broadway, and this Italian director came, his name was Gian Luigi Polidoro, and he determined I was the person to play the lead in his low-budget comedy. He'd won an award at the Venice Film Festival, and... He was, y'know, a skilled director.

italian couple play

Gian Luigi Polidoro and his girlfriend had written this script, it was an American comedy, and they decided I was the guy to play the part. I was young, they offered me the lead in the film, and I said, "Sure, I'll do it." And I'm telling you, there is a movie waiting to be made about the making of a movie like that, particularly at that time in New York. I mean, we shot all over the streets of New York without permits. We would literally grab a shot and run. But Rent Control... I think the total cost was $100,000, and to this director's credit, I think it looks like $200,000.

girlfriend new-york running

I had no idea I was part of what was going to be a big mega-hit. I thought I was doing a B sci-fi movie [Independence Day]. And, actually, it was Jeff Goldblum who looked at me one day and said, "You know, I think this is going to be really something." And I said, "Well, I hope you're right." And sure enough, it turned out to be.

independence ideas thinking

I think Rick Berman just called me and asked me if I wanted to do the show [Star Trek: Enterprise], and he said they'd write an arc if I'd do it.

stars writing thinking

I think that Enterprise was getting better and better, actually, and if it had kept going, I think it would've turned into as good a show as any other in the Star Trek franchise.

get-better stars thinking

Dr. Okun. Who's named after a special-effects guy named Jeff Okun, who had done Stargate for Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin, who did Independence Day. But "Brakish" just came up one day when Jeff Goldblum and I were improvising, and he told me his character's name and I told him mine.

guy names character

[Independence Day] was a sweet, sweet job, because it was one of... by Brent Spiner

[Independence Day] was a sweet, sweet job, because it was one of those big surprises.

independence sweet jobs

It seemed like an interesting movie [Independence Day], and I thought I had a take on the part that was going to be unique. That doesn't happen to me very often.

independence unique interesting

So it was a really pleasant surprise when [Independence Day] turned out to be a successful film. I don't know if you've heard that they're going to be re-releasing it next Fourth of July in 3-D. I've actually only seen it once, and it was in Hawaii, in a little theater in Oahu shortly after it was released. But Roland Emmerich is a really smart guy, and he makes really fun movies to watch.

smart successful fun

I have to go with Data's makeup, because that was basically every day, 10 months out of the year, for seven years. There were only a couple of days that I had to endure for Dr. Soong.

makeup couple years

I think everyone agrees First Contact was our best film, and even at that, they're kind of... I don't know, they're sort of movies. But they're kind of really Star Trek movies, if you take my meaning. It's hard for me to say. I was glad to be doing them. Whether they were good isn't really up to me to determine, and it doesn't matter what I think. I thought we had a really nice script on Nemesis, and the audience didn't seem to care for it, so what can you do?

nice stars thinking

Rent Control is not a terrible movie, certainly not for the budget they had. And, again, it's such an '80s kind of thing.

rent-control terrible kind