I had to work with Ben Mendelsohn who's one of the great actors of our time. I had a lot of scenes with him and I was thrilled to be on the set with him; I just wanted to see how we were going to play it. John Leguizamo More Quotes by John Leguizamo More Quotes From John Leguizamo With kids, the days are long, but the years are short. John Leguizamo parenting inspirational kids When you feel the world is against you or you give up hope, you look at your heroes and say, "They were able to do it. They had hard times and a lot of opposition, but they got through it." Then you feel, "I can do it too." John Leguizamo hard-times giving-up hero Great acting is being able to create a character. Great character is being able to be yourself. John Leguizamo being-yourself inspirational character It's a product of being an actor, you know? A lot of your work doesn't end up on camera and some of the best things aren't always in the final product. But yeah, a lot of my stuff got cut and it was painful, but I know it was for the better of the movie. John Leguizamo finals cameras cutting America may not realize it yet, but Latin prototypes are being created right now, and not just by me. They are these mambo kings and salsa queens, Aztec lords and Inca princesses, every Hernandez and Fernandez, whom this country will one day come to understand and respect. John Leguizamo queens kings country It takes time to understand yourself, to go inside yourself and to question yourself and really take yourself to task. That's self-expression. John Leguizamo tasks expression self Latins for Republicans. It's like roaches for Raid. John Leguizamo roaches republican latin But when you are doing an animated voice, it has to have more energy than usual or it falls flat and doesn't work. For myself, I found that I had to put myself in the same physical or emotional state as Sid, in order to make that voice sound alive and authentic. So if there was a scene in which he was running, I would be running beforehand to sound out of breath. That's important because the audience can tell intuitively if it does not sound real. John Leguizamo real running fall I love life, and I embrace every minute of it. John Leguizamo i-love-life love-life embrace Is there a God? Yeah, but there's not just one God. There's a whole lot of gods, because one God couldn't have possibly made so many mistakes all by Himself. This had to be done by committee. John Leguizamo yeah done mistake I was working at Kentucky Fried Chicken when my math teacher said, "You're failing in school, you're messing up, why don't you just try this?" I said, "Alright, let me try it," and I started going to acting classes and I loved it. I thought, "I may not make it but I love doing it." John Leguizamo math teacher school The message is one of the beautiful things about the film. And I think part of the appeal is simply that they are prehistoric creatures, they are no longer around and that makes them magical and makes us feel quite emotional, because we know that those creatures did not survive in the long run, so there's poignancy in their fight for survival. John Leguizamo fighting running beautiful You know, I am kind of a bi-polarish schitzerphrenic. I run the gamut of being incredibly shy and withdrawn to being a crazy-eccentric exhibitionist. And I have always been like that. John Leguizamo eccentric crazy running I like drama. I love being in a drama where I get to be the funny guy. That's what I really love the most. John Leguizamo guy love-is drama Marriage is wild. I thought it was this perfect land of happiness and joy. Wrong! After you say you do, you don't for a long time. John Leguizamo wild-imagination land long I love life, man, and I embrace every minute of it so maybe I bring that on the set. I love people and I want to have a good time. John Leguizamo love-life men people People can be anonymous when they go on blogs and say crazy things that they would never have the courage to say to your face. John Leguizamo crazy goes-on people Independent film is for actors that love to act. John Leguizamo independent film actors Teachers are everything. I mean, you're a poor kid from the ghetto, your parents are busy working 24/7, working like a Mexican. John Leguizamo teacher mean kids I wanted to enjoy the process. I wanted to enjoy just being on stage and giving back and the feedback. John Leguizamo feedback just-being giving