Top 100 Michael Keaton Quotes
#1. Sometimes I don't feel like an actor. Sometimes I speak about it like it was another job, and then I go, 'Wait a minute - I am one!'
Michael Keaton
#2. It's odd, how those things happen to actors. A thing where you think, "I have no idea how to do this," something will happen in your life comes up and you just get it. I don't know how you get it, but actors are pretty extraordinary, in that regard. I think it's fear that happens.
Michael Keaton
#3. My limited theater experience was when I was a kid starting out: two or three plays. I was good in one and mediocre in the other. My problem is that I have other interests.
Michael Keaton
#5. I saw some Pixar movies like 'The Incredibles' and thought, 'This is extraordinary. These are some of the best movies I've seen.'
Michael Keaton
#6. I've changed my diet a few times. Now I'm trying to eat more protein. I eat little meals throughout the day. I love food, so I still give myself great meals. Also, when I'm busy, it's easy to lose weight.
Michael Keaton
#7. High energy creates more energy, more energy, more energy. It kicks off synapses, I guess. It opens up your brain and you think of one thing after another thing, after another. You can really open yourself up comedically, which is fun.
Michael Keaton
#8. I was an altar boy, which I loved and am very proud of. It was strict, but also really nice.
Michael Keaton
#9. I hope this doesn't sound pretentious, but I very often like the way Europeans make movies. I think sometimes that don't they care about having to clean certain things.
Michael Keaton
#10. If you look at what I do, there's no consistency. The consistency is that there is no consistency. I do projects that are good and not so good.
Michael Keaton
#11. I took my play very seriously, and I got way, way lost in my play world.
Michael Keaton
#12. I choose not to be at the whim of others. I want to be at my own whim.
Michael Keaton
#14. In the household in which I was raised, the themes were pretty simple. 'Work hard. Don't quit. Be appreciative, be thankful, be grateful, be respectful. Also, never whine, never complain. And always, for crying out loud, keep a sense of humor.'
Michael Keaton
#15. I saw 'Wild,' and I thought, 'Wow, this is a lot of things, but one of the things is it's a therapist's dream and a climate-change denier's nightmare.'
Michael Keaton
#16. I read that John Hughes script for 'Mr. Mom,' and I thought, 'This guy is a funny writer.' I went: 'You ought to stick around and direct this thing.' But he didn't; he left, and look what he became. A really legendary comedy director.
Michael Keaton
#17. There are very few jobs where you're held up to public scrutiny.
Michael Keaton
#18. I never knew anyone who was cloned, but I played one in 'Multiplicity.'
Michael Keaton
#19. I'd get scripts and think: 'What's the point of this?'
Michael Keaton
#20. I have a lot of energy, and I move around a lot in my club act.
Michael Keaton
#21. If you're a dope like me, you get every sports channel you can get. I'm watching, you know, Netherlands soccer.
Michael Keaton
#22. There are times when I consciously give the character something physical - a walk, the way he sits, how he talks, or his lack of physicality, which is like a physicality.
Michael Keaton
#23. When I was in improv workshops or doing stand-up or writing comedy with others, or just doing comedy, I just laughed. Funny was funny; I loved to laugh. I always liked people I found generally funny.
Michael Keaton
#24. There's this thin line between knowing something is going to be really hard and saying, 'Yeah, you know, but I still gotta see if I can pull it off.'
Michael Keaton
#25. I guess I'm probably a Method actor; I don't know ... I just think of it as staying in the zone.
Michael Keaton
#26. I always think that I'm not going to be right for a movie or that there's someone else who can do it better.
Michael Keaton
#27. I'm in a business that invites narcissism, self-involvement, and egos being blown out of proportion.
Michael Keaton
#28. In high school, I was too shy to perform. It's one thing to get laughs from your family, to be funny at parties and in class. It's another thing to get up on the stage.
Michael Keaton
#29. There is the theory ... that you live in two places: You either live in fear, or you live in love.
Michael Keaton
#30. Anesthesia is quite remarkable. It's lost time. And you wake up kind of refreshed.
Michael Keaton
#31. If I didn't do 'Batman,' 'Birdman' wouldn't have happened.
Michael Keaton
#32. Have I ever been to a party with a ton of famous people in it? Yes, several times, so I guess that's a Hollywood lifestyle.
Michael Keaton
#33. I don't think there's anybody better than Leonardo DiCaprio, and I've been saying that since before anyone knew who he was.
Michael Keaton
#35. I reached a point where I didn't think I was that great. I'm not being humble. I was looking at things and thinking: 'You're not really good in that'. I think I was becoming boring as well as bored. It was nobody's fault except mine - probably - and it might not even be my fault.
Michael Keaton
#37. Shoot, two things I said I wasn't going to do: Cry and give air quotes,
Michael Keaton
#38. My first manager, he had left Germany when he was five, but he would joke about the Nazis. And I'd laugh, but I'd look at him, and he was the first one who told me, 'You know, funny is a powerful thing; it's a wonderful weapon.'
Michael Keaton
#40. My work is distinct and definitive and specific, and hopefully it is so that every single character is different, and they are - but there's probably an underlying element that's me.
Michael Keaton
#41. I'm usually pretty good in front of a live audience. I usually like that.
Michael Keaton
#42. I liked 'Robocop' because of the director, and it was an intelligent, big-action studio movie.
Michael Keaton
#43. To this day, I have the most fond memories of some of my old toys.
Michael Keaton
#44. Anyone can be a celebrity now; this is not a big deal anymore.
Michael Keaton
#45. To say directing was a long-stewing ambition doesn't cover it. If you cut me open, you'd see it.
Michael Keaton
#46. I really like to hear actors talk about acting, but I don't really like hearing myself talk.
Michael Keaton
#47. People, when they talk or write about comedy, they don't really get it.
Michael Keaton
#48. I used to work on a survey crew, because my dad was an engineer, but he was also a surveyor.
Michael Keaton
#49. People always make these generalized statements about Hollywood, and there's all kinds of people in Hollywood.
Michael Keaton
#53. I always knew the way in was Bruce Wayne. It wasn't Batman. It was never Batman. That was the key.
Michael Keaton
#54. Leaving a lot of movie sets, I've gone home and said, 'How come my hands are clean?' I should finish something and go home with dirt in my fingernails, because then you really feel that you've done something.
Michael Keaton
#55. My brothers were tremendous shack builders. My shacks were horrible. My brothers once built a two-story shack from the ground up that was awesome!
Michael Keaton
#56. You tell me another gang that's got a dental plan.
Michael Keaton
#57. It's great to make your own choices, but there's a price to pay. I could've made more money or been more famous. I could be the current groovy guy.
Michael Keaton
#58. I don't know - sometimes I catch myself being dark, and it's annoying. I think, 'Get over it.' I bore myself. But sometimes, like everybody, I'm sure I am obsessive.
Michael Keaton
#59. If you get a good comedy once a year, man, that's pretty good. I may be pickier than some, but still, there aren't that many movies that are really, truly, honestly that funny.
Michael Keaton
#60. Yeah, I had to change my name because there were two other actors registered at Equity with that name.
Michael Keaton
#61. Unpredictability means what it means. I don't know how you define it. It is what it is.
Michael Keaton
#63. Will Ferrell makes me laugh a lot when he gets out there and gets crazy.
Michael Keaton
#64. Westerns were always my favorite things when I was little. And it always bothered me when cowboys were too clean in movies, or when they wore their guns like they had an outfit on. It always worked better when a guy looked sweaty and smelly; I hadda believe, I hadda believe that.
Michael Keaton
#65. I'm envious of writers and musicians. I think it must be so difficult. Not just the frustration, but the discipline.
Michael Keaton
#66. I'm just shocked at how blatantly shallow people are sometimes.
Michael Keaton
#67. Sometimes I do movies that aren't any good, or sometimes I might not be any good in them, or sometimes they don't do very well.
Michael Keaton
#68. One thing my mother had a nose for was inauthenticity.
Michael Keaton
#69. I was a really involved dad - not because I'm such a wonderful person. I like being a dad.
Michael Keaton
#70. The vast majority of Pittsburghers don't come from any kind of serious dough.
Michael Keaton
#72. I don't know how to not be outside since I was a little kid.
Michael Keaton
#73. I get kinda self-conscious. I don't want to know about my eyebrows. I'm born with them.
Michael Keaton
#76. 'Beetlejuice' was a romp, man. 'Beetlejuice' was fun. I've never had so much fun in my life.
Michael Keaton
#77. I think one reason I really like women and like working with women is because of my sisters.
Michael Keaton
#78. I was never a huge 007 fan, but I sure liked Sean Connery. I'm sure Pierce Brosnan is good and has his moments, but I've not seen him; I've only seen bits and pieces on TV, so I can't really judge. Pierce looks very natural in the role.
Michael Keaton
#79. No, I don't see many movies. I don't even see my own movies.
Michael Keaton
#80. I've got a statue of St. Francis in my front yard, and I'm not even a practicing Catholic.
Michael Keaton
#81. There're only a few photographers I've ever felt really comfortable with.
Michael Keaton
#82. I've proven I'm courageous. I'm gutsier than anybody; I've got a better imagination than anybody; I'm essentially more creative than any other actor I know, and I've proven I take risks. I don't think I need to prove anything to myself any more.
Michael Keaton
#83. David Letterman used to say, 'I wasn't the class clown, but I wrote for him,' and that's exactly it. You want to be known to be funny without having it pointed out.
Michael Keaton
#84. I'll always stand by the first 'Batman'. Even for its imperfections, people will never know how hard that movie was to do. A lot of that still holds up.
Michael Keaton
#86. I didn't go to church all the time, just 'cause I was an antsy kid.
Michael Keaton
#87. I'm a really sensitive person. I cry if I miss a cab. I've always worn my emotions on my sleeve. I think it makes life so much better when you can talk about anything.
Michael Keaton
#88. Chris Nolan is great, but I've never seen any of the 'Batman' movies all the way through. I know they're good. I just have zero interest in those kinds of movies.
Michael Keaton
#89. The first feature film I did, when I did 'Night Shift,' I improvised quite a bit because I would improvise at the audition, so sometimes I would return to the original lines, and then when I was on set, I would improvise even more.
Michael Keaton
#90. Unless you're flat out dead, you have to think of some other questions like: what's on the other side? It brings up issues of God, or no God. How does he play into this? Or he, or she, or it? How does it all play into this?
Michael Keaton
#91. If I'm going to meditate, there is a little church up in Montecito, California. It's an old Spanish mission, actually. I find it comforting in there.
Michael Keaton
#92. I come from a background where you don't really talk about yourself much.
Michael Keaton
#94. In our family, my brothers and I shared toys. In other words, just because it was mine didn't mean my brothers and I didn't play with it.
Michael Keaton
#95. There just is not one person in my family who is not funny.
Michael Keaton
#96. I was raising a child full time, sharing the responsibility with his mom. He lived with me half the time, so I chose not to go away and make certain movies.
Michael Keaton
#97. Small movie, small role, giant movie, giant role. Work is work. You've got to tell the truth and show up.
Michael Keaton
#98. My first day in grade school, I was plain scared. I left the comfort of my run-down house, which I loved, and went to school where it was cold, it smelled, the lighting was bad.
Michael Keaton
#99. I want to thank the Hollywood Foreign Press for even having a comedy category.
Michael Keaton
#100. I really believed that Batman had the potential to be one of the coolest guys in cinema.
Michael Keaton
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