Top 40 Christopher Lloyd Quotes

I’m kind of lethargic in real life.

I get asked a lot what the key is to creating a hit show, and I have a standard answer: Do everything right, and then get lucky 10 ways.

‘Cuckoo’s Nest’ came along, and I was cast, and that was great, but it was my first film, so I felt like I was kind of walking around on the set as Walk-On A.

I’m slow to pick things up. Everybody always seems to know more than I do.

In point of fact, I’m not sure there are too many comedies with laugh tracks anymore. Most of what you hear is live studio audience laughing as a show is filmed. If this prompts you to wonder who those actual human beings are who are laughing at some of this stuff, that is a mystification I share.

I tend to avoid things like award shows and panels and interviews, not remotely because I feel I’m above them or wish to cultivate the image of the intriguing recluse. I’m just not very good at them.

I’m not too picky. I’m not waiting, sitting around for the ideal and perfect role. I like to work, so I try to make the best of whatever opportunity comes up.

I’m somewhat of a solitary person.

I started in theatre when I was 13 or 14 years old and did a lot of theatre until my early thirties. Off-Broadway stuff – off-off-off-off-Broadway stuff – and I do love it.

Over the years, I have attended comic book conventions and met people that are die-hard fans; they’ll come up and say, ‘Clue’ is my favorite movie of all time.’ It has definitely resonated in some way with people and just continued to build up over the years considerably.

I was just very shy. I was never anxious to do talk shows, as I didn’t know what to say. And I don’t feel I have any inherent interest. But as I’m getting older, I feel I want to be able to share whatever I know if it means something to someone.

I loved doing Judge Doom in ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit.’ I’m constantly running into people who saw that movie when they were kids, and it absolutely horrified them.

‘Star Trek’ came along fairly early. And I don’t know what they saw in me that said Captain Kruge, because I hadn’t done anything remotely like that, but it worked out.

I was a slow starter. I didn’t really make any dazzling impressions. But I don’t really regret that because I learned a lot along the way. I always kept busy – I found my way my way, and I’m happy about it.

In the movie ‘Star Trek 3: The Return of Spock,’ I’m a really bad Klingon, and I really enjoyed playing that – somebody who’s totally unscrupulous. It’s like he was not genetically equipped to feel compassion or sensitivity. Just outright evil without apology.

I’ve worked a lot with kids before. They can be very, very difficult, just because they’re kids.

I had told my agents that I didn’t want to do television. I can’t believe I had that gall, looking back on it. I would never condescend to do TV, and then ‘Taxi’ called up for a guest spot in the first season. And my common sense kind of took over, I guess.

I sense from people that they get frustrated with me for not being out and about. But I guess I’m a shy boy.

There is certainly a higher percentage of wit in British comedy than in American comedy. What always tickles me is the way in which people try to use their intellect to get themselves out of tricky situations but never quite manage to do so – much to their enormous embarrassment.

I’m persistent. In the early ’60s, when I first started making the rounds in New York for theater work, I became more and more enraged every time I had an interview or audition that went nowhere, and became more determined. I haven’t lost that.

I’ve always been fascinated by real scientists – Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, and so many others – how they’ve come up with solutions to very complicated problems that nobody else can seem to figure out.

‘Cuckoo’s Nest’ was my first film, and I had wanted to do film for some time, but somehow I had not clicked. I would go in for interviews or readings, and I never had the sense that I was anywhere near what they were looking for.

When I started out, I didn’t know if I was ever going to make a movie.

I wanted to do film. I was living in New York and working in theater, but I always wanted to do film.

I really enjoy playing villains, whether they’re realistic like Switchblade Sam or whether they’re a bit more over-the-top like Kruge in ‘Star Trek III’ or Judge Doom in ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit.’ It’s sort of a license just to be as bad as the script allows you to be – you can just go for it and have fun.

I grew up near New York, and there were a lot of summer stock theaters in the area. I started an apprenticing with some of the theaters. Not really acting in them – I did everything else: everything but act.

The film I had the most fun in was ‘Back to the Future Part III.’ It had horseback riding, and all that work, all that training, was quite an experience.

Doc Brown had a feverous imagination. He was constantly coming up with new ways and solutions to various issues, and time travel was one of them. I was just very inspired by being able to portray somebody of that sort. He’s a man of tremendous energy and excitement about discovery.

I like television, but there’s not as much freedom as there is in film or theatre, and I always felt that there is a certain pressure in being able to put out a product, but it’s OK.

Whether it’s a very dramatic part or a comical role, I feel I need to create the same thing: a full-fledged, three-dimensional character that the audience can identify with.

The seas are rising, and millions of people are going to be affected by that – and already are. We have to make sure there’s enough food, water, and air.

I feel that I have been very fortunate and had the opportunity to play some wonderful roles and movies and worked with some great talent.

I’ll run into somebody, and of all the movies I’ve done, they may say something about ‘Back to the Future’ or whatever, but then they make reference to ‘Clue’ very favorably.

I grew up on Charles Addams’ cartoons, particularly ‘The Addams Family,’ and Uncle Fester was always one of my favorites.

A picador is the guy in a bullfight who helps make sure the matador doesn’t get killed by distracting the bull. That’s what TV writing is. You’re just distracting the bull long enough to stick around for the next set of commercials.

I don’t like to repeat myself.

Judge Doom is such an evil cartoon! It was just such fun to do. I liked the whole mystique of it: the long cape, the glasses, and all that stuff. You grow up with horror films as a kid, and it all seemed to be embodied in that one guy.

As long as I can keep remembering the lines and getting to the locations, I want to keep working as long as I can. I love it.

I didn’t know where my career was going to go. Somehow, people sensed that I have certain talents and cast me in these bizarre, off-beat roles, which I have no regret about. I’ve enjoyed playing every one of them.

Eric Stoltz was a very good actor.