It's very hard to just break into movies. I always felt like it would be giving up a theatre career to go and try and be in movies. So, I thought I'd exhaust the theatre thing, go as far as I can, and originate roles, be on Broadway, maybe win some Tony Awards, and then hopefully some door would open. Luckily, it did.

Patrick Wilson

Categorized in : Winning Theatre Giving Up

You have your vision and you need to be focused, but you have to listen. I never felt a sense that the wheels were going to come off because we're all friends and family. It was all good.

Patrick Wilson

family-and-friends vision needs

I didn't win prom king. By that point, I'd quit sports except for soccer, so I was really just a theater guy. I totally lost to the captain of the football team.

Patrick Wilson

football soccer sports

I try to shave at night so my skin has a chance to settle by the early morning call-time.

Patrick Wilson

skins morning night

It's frustrating sometimes for actors because you slam it out and you have a great time, you think it's funny, and then for whatever reason the movie doesn't come together.

Patrick Wilson

together sometimes thinking

Somebody can paint with a fine brush like Monet and do millions of little dots or somebody can splatter it up there like Kandinsky or Jackson Pollock and go "Yep, that's art." That's okay.

Patrick Wilson

dots littles art

I've always had good relationships with directors. I'm one of those people where, if there's a good idea coming from the sound guy, I'll take it. Filmmaking is a collaborative effort, whether it's a first-time director or it's Mike Nichols. I think that's the standard that the great ones set.

Patrick Wilson

people ideas thinking

Emasculation does seem to be a theme in the roles that I choose.

Patrick Wilson

emasculation roles doe

I always grew up around acting. I did commercials as a kid and all that kind of stuff and my oldest brother did theatre in High School. It's funny, when I was 15 I had a friend of mine who dragged me away to a camp at Boston University. It was the first time truthfully that acting didn't feel presentational; it felt very personal. I didn't just feel like I was singing and dancing for my friends in High School. It felt like I was doing a scene and all of a sudden I started to feeling something - I started to feel emotional.

Patrick Wilson

brother kids school

I am an avid runner, mainly on weekends.

Patrick Wilson

avid runners weekend

I think your teenage years define your musical roots forever. You're always looking for a theme for your high school years.

Patrick Wilson

teenage school thinking

I am fascinated with religion or things that people believe in and question that. I think it's interesting.

Patrick Wilson

believe people thinking

I knew I wanted to go to college and I wanted to study it acting, so I just looked for the best school that I could get into. Luckily, I had very supportive parents. I went to a conservatory that is basically drama school. You take one English class and one history class for four years but you don't take any other science or anything like that. It's strictly, from 7am until night, all acting. It's a lot. Some people find it too much, but for me I was preparing for a career and I never really looked back.

Patrick Wilson

drama night school

You don't ever see a thriller with a spiritual backbone.

Patrick Wilson

thrillers backbone spiritual

For everybody that does something bad there's gotta be someone that does something good.

Patrick Wilson

doe

When I look at a character, whether he's good or bad, one scene or 10 scenes, I just have to find my way in.

Patrick Wilson

character looks way

I just don't watch a lot of TV.

Patrick Wilson

tvs watches

In a normal movie, you'd never see one guy talk for an entire page, whether good or bad.

Patrick Wilson

normal pages guy

A heroic nature is very Greek.

Patrick Wilson

heroic greek

Mike Nicholls saw me in the musical of The Full Monty and brought me in to audition for Angels in America for HBO. And that opened a lot of doors because you could go to LA and say: "Well, I'm starring opposite Al Pacino and Meryl Streep..."

Patrick Wilson

monty musical angel

I love making movies, but there's nothing like being in front of an audience.

Patrick Wilson

love-making audience fronts