When I first came to Hollywood, I used to dream of doing films and escaping television. Billy Campbell More Quotes by Billy Campbell More Quotes From Billy Campbell I would love to see a sequel to 'The Rocketeer.' I'd love to see that! I don't know that I would be in it. I may be a little long in the tooth to play 'The Rocketeer.' But I would love to be a part of that in some form or fashion. Billy Campbell fashionplaylong If I ever get married, I'd like to pick a place so hard to reach that only a few people would turn up-like the North Pole. A destination wedding weeds out all the people who might potentially get their noses out of joint, so only the troupers would be there. Billy Campbell jointsweedpeople A great deal of my battle, as an actor, is to whittle away the things that make me self-conscious and try to trick myself into not being self-conscious. So, it's always a challenge, whether I'm lying in a hospital bed or flying around with a rocket pack on my back, or what have you. On the best of days, it's a challenge for me. Billy Campbell selfchallengeslying Once something is well-written, then everything else is gravy. Billy Campbell gravywellswritten I almost always do things that I like, in some form or fashion. Every once in awhile that means that I don't think the script is any good and I don't have any trust in the people, but the film is shooting in Sri Lanka, or somewhere like that, so I'm going. Billy Campbell fashionmeanthinking I don't have any complex plans for playing a character. I think all I try to do is not make too many bad guy faces and not ever try to seem too good. I just try to put it in the middle somewhere. Billy Campbell guycharacterthinking I grew up 60 minutes way from Richmond, in Charlottesville, Virginia and, as a child, I was obsessed with the Civil War. I used to do re-enactments and all that stuff. Billy Campbell virginiawarchildren I've done my share of reading about Abraham Lincoln, throughout my life, and he wasn't always carved in stone. He was a human being. He was a very thoughtful, self-educated, complex, magnanimous human being, who was very, very strong, very smart and very canny, with a very strong sense of what was right and what was wrong. Through all that, he's become an icon, over the years, and some of his warmth and humanity has been lost. You don't tend to think of Lincoln as this warm, funny person, but he was. Billy Campbell smartstrongreading I sailed a bit as a child, but it wasn't until I was around 40, when I was halfway through Patrick O'Brian's 'Master and Commander' novels, that I had the sudden epiphany that I had to go sail on a square-rig ship. Billy Campbell shipssquareschildren I tend to get comfortable with the dialogue and find out who the person is in the script and try to hit that. People are sort of independent of their occupations and their pastimes. You don't play a politician or a fireman or a cowboy - you just play a person. Billy Campbell cowboyindependentplay I've done some things that have been quite interesting, but as grateful as I am for having been on 'Dynasty,' it was just so cheesy. That's half the reason it was so much fun for people to watch, but it's not so fun to have to say those lines. Billy Campbell gratefulfunpeople Some of the best auditions I've ever had have been when my agent called and said, "They want you 20 minutes ago, in an office in Century City, to see you for something." It's actually sometimes a really good thing. I don't have time to second-guess myself, I don't have time to overthink things, and I don't have time to get bogged down in stuff. I'm not sitting there thinking for a week and a half, before I'm supposed to go in front of a network president to do something. That just gives you time to be nervous. Billy Campbell officegivingthinking If you were to ask my agent, they would confirm this: I'm drawn to locations. What really drew me to 'The 4400,' aside from the fact that it was sci-fi, was the fact that it was shot in the city of my dreams: Vancouver. Billy Campbell vancouvercitiesdream Many who wave American flags also practice discrimination on the basis of race. Many who wave American flags practice anti-Semitism. We think that betrays the fundamental ideals of our democracy. Billy Campbell betrayalpracticethinking To me, the AMC brand is great storytelling - they call it slow-burn storytelling. Billy Campbell brandsstorytelling So many movies are so formulaic because you've got to get it done in an hour and a half. On a TV series, that's where the really interesting stuff can happen. Billy Campbell tvsdoneinteresting The South Downs of England reminded me a bit of my Old Virginia homeland. Billy Campbell homelandvirginiaengland The only thing better than going to Pitcairn in the first place, is going again. Billy Campbell firsts The first trip I remember taking was on the train from Virginia up to New York City, watching the summertime countryside rolling past the window. They used white linen tablecloths in the dining car in those days, and real silver. I love trains to this day. Maybe that was the beginning of my fixation with leisurely modes of travel. Billy Campbell realnew-yorkpast The network wants you to make a thing that's just a stand-alone episode, so you never get any character or continuity. This is one of the ways in which television can actually be good, and even better than the movies, because it gives you a chance to tell a long story. Billy Campbell givingcharacterlong
