I like to understand, very specifically, what it is I'm seeing, and where it is and where it's going, and a lot of that is just hitting the mark and following the dotted line. But, that's good too because there's concentration and focus that's involved in that.

Stephen Lang

I've played the clarinet since I was a kid. I love to sing, but I'm not much of a singer. Let's say that when it comes to vocalizing, I have the soul of Billy Bigelow but the voice of Jigger Cragan.

Stephen Lang

voice soul kids

Theater, because of the commitment, it has to be a great role and a great play to me. It takes a lot out of you.

Stephen Lang

roles play commitment

I can't imagine a more profoundly exciting experience than I had working on 'Avatar.' And whether I'm ever part of it again, I'll always be very proud that I was a part of it.

Stephen Lang

imagine proud exciting

I get a lot of people coming up to me and saying, "I really hate you." And they say it in the nicest possible way and I accept it. It's the people who come up to you and say, "I really liked your character. Man, he was right!" Those are the ones you worry about.

Stephen Lang

hate character men

I love the stage. It's terrifying in a way that film and television is not. When you're about to go out, and you're adrenaline just gets out of control, and that can be really daunting.

Stephen Lang

film-and-television stage way

With correction, and given the chance, 'Terra Nova' can and will deliver seasons of transcendent images and story-telling. 'Terra Nova' is the Hubble Telescope of television.

Stephen Lang

myopic telescopes stories

My criteria for doing theater has always been slightly different than my criteria with movies, in that there are a lot of reasons to do films, having to do with location, money, and first and foremost having to do with script and role and director.

Stephen Lang

roles different directors

There are themes that somehow stir me and that I find very interesting. They're themes that deal with leadership, the nature of bravery and courage, and how to define those.

Stephen Lang

theme bravery interesting

I have a penchant for playing God's clowns. Actually, I played Nijinsky once, and he used to call himself God's clown.

Stephen Lang

playing-god clown used

My philosophy is, 'Show up, shut up, and do your job,' and if you do it to the satisfaction of your director and the public, you're likely to be able to do it again.

Stephen Lang

jobs philosophy directors

When Steven Spielberg comes calling, it behooves you to seriously consider it.

Stephen Lang

calling

I am very fond of the people, landscape, poetry, music, history and the Guinness. Being there makes me think of my mother and my grandmother - always sentimental and warm thoughts.

Stephen Lang

mother people thinking

I always have a contract with a character. Even when he's unappealing. The contract is to give him his due. To tell his story. And to keep his secrets.

Stephen Lang

secret giving character

Hamlet, that's the only role there is, finally. The only role. After that, you settle down and only do the fun things on stage.

Stephen Lang

down-and roles fun

As you get older, stuff starts to wear down. I can't play four basketball games a week anymore. It takes me three days to recover from one. I'm a little older, a little scrappier. So now I do yoga instead. And whatever else happens in the day, I'm set up in the best way possible. I feel great. I'm so flexible.

Stephen Lang

yoga basketball games

I've always been curious as to why one man jumps out of a fox-hole with a grenade and charges a machine gun nest and his buddy, who sits right there next to him, sits there cowering. My feeling is that the different is tiny between the two.

Stephen Lang

gun men two

My Hamlet was about as alienated as you can get. Mine was a bitter and lonely prince. Valid, I think, but maybe tough to root for. I think that romance was missing.

Stephen Lang

lonely roots thinking

I loved Laurel and Hardy and TV shows like 'Robin Hood' and 'Rama of the Jungle'.

Stephen Lang

rama tv-shows robins

I was relatively buff (before 'Avatar'), because I was working in a tanktop half the time on stage, anyway, but I just went kind of into hyperdrive after that and really worked to beat that old body into shape, to get that carcass where...I didn't want to be looking at it and see anything hanging where it shouldn't be hanging.

Stephen Lang

shapes body half

When you want to learn about something, what is the first thing you do... you go to the internet.

Stephen Lang

internet want firsts