Top 77 Michael Pena Quotes

Every script always goes through rewrites so that everyone loves it.

When I started wrestling, I sucked. I hated losing, so I started doing pushups and more squats, and then I did summer wrestling and learned different styles.

Paul Rudd has a very specific brand of humor.

Drama is basically what I do, so it’s a compliment that people think it’s hard for me to get back to drama.

A lot of Americans don’t really leave the country.

I was on ‘The Shield’ for a year before ‘Crash’ came out, and it was like doing an independent film every week.

I guess people recognize me, but I’m not a household name. Two out of every five people who come up to me know my name. The one thing I don’t want is to be followed by paparazzi.

My first ten years in Hollywood were really tough. I’d be coaching friends who came to me for acting advice, and then they’d make it before I did. I’d still be helping them while they were on movie sets and I had four lines on a TV show.

‘Tower Heist?’ That is a movie that it’s hard not to name-drop, but, it’s a crew of five, and it’s Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, me, Matthew Broderick, and Casey Affleck. And we’re like, on a heist.

I remember I used to think my dad was really cool working at a factory. He used to make buttons. I used to brag, ‘This button here, My dad made it.’ There was this sense of pride. It’s knowing your dad is doing something cool.

I was in L.A., like, four months, and I got my first part. Then I was like, ‘OK, I’m staying.’

There are not too many times when a movie’s not cynical, you know what I mean?

I’m living in Hollywood, and I’m making movies, but it goes beyond me. If my family is not doing very well, or even OK, you want them to be better.

I’ve been an actor for 20 years, and I think the first 14 years, it was all struggling. At first, it was all gangsters.

Some of the best bad guys in movies are funny and charming.

I loved WWF as a kid.

I thought of myself as an individual ever since I was little.

I was a quiet kid – I didn’t think I needed to be the funniest guy. I was always more of a listener. I went to 12 different schools, and I wasn’t the charismatic dude, but I was captain of the track team and wrestling team.

Regardless of whatever job you do, you want to see the importance of it or how it can be important. I think by inspiring the people that I come from – if I inspire anyone – would be worth it.

The reason I love Lollapalooza is because it’s a great music festival.

We all want approval.

I think about where I grew up and how I grew up: my dad was making $25,000 a year. Taking a chance wasn’t really taking a chance. It was like you were going for something better. To me, there wasn’t that much risk involved.

The only time that I really go on Twitter is to promote, because what sucks is there’s some weird trolling going around. Even if you are well-intentioned, there’s some mean people behind a keyboard.

The joy of ‘Crash’ was that it was all about the work. It was my first real part. Before that, it was a line here and there, maybe a scene. ‘Crash’ was five scenes, a beautiful arc, a little vignette of my own. It really meant something.

All the guys at Marvel are really passionate, and they love entertaining folks, and they really think about the story, and there’s a lot of thought that goes into that.

I don’t know why – I have a ton of books: five full cabinets of them.

I came to L.A. when I was 19, and my two roommates were blue-eyed, blond dudes. I helped coach them, and they both landed pilots.

For me, when I do my best acting, it’s mainly imagination. Then I really have a lot of fun with it.

I never wanted to be in a gang. I didn’t want to follow anybody’s orders.

I want to do more sci-fi films. I want to play half-alien, half-illegal alien.

I have really good managers and agents who are very selective in what they send me.

You have to make your choices however you see fit and just keep your integrity as best you can.

Kicks to the legs, they’re not very cool. They’re brutal.

Seth Rogen told me to read ‘Preacher,’ and ‘Preacher’ was amazing.

I didn’t know too much about ‘Ant-Man.’

I used to love those movies, back in the day, like ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street,’ ‘Friday the 13th,’ ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ and ‘The Shining.’ I really liked those kind of movies, and I wanted to be a part of one of those kinds of movies.

Some horror movies are just for shock value, so it doesn’t really feel scary.

I’m clearly not a writer, but I’m always a fan of them.

There are certain people you don’t have to worry about on set.

I didn’t realise I lived in the ghetto until we moved out.

I usually just try to do whatever’s on the page because I’ve done research before – including a lot of analysis – but you end up with conflicting data. To me, the script is king.

My brother and my father both got laid off around the same that I was starting to do this movie ‘Chavez.’ And at the same time, it was when all the bailouts were happening.

When I did ‘Crash,’ to be honest with you, it was just another acting job. I just wanted to do as good as I possibly could.

It feels good, pouring your heart out over something, and then all of a sudden people are getting inspired.

Sometimes it’s good to be naive.

I’ll do anything to make my kid laugh.

I’ve tested for I-don’t-know-how-many pilots, and I didn’t get any of them. I would always try to go off the top and make it as spontaneous as possible, but acting in sitcoms is such a skill set, and I didn’t have it. I wish I did back when I was younger.

I wouldn’t say I have comedy chops. I guess you get lucky with good writing because I don’t think I’m a comedian by any stretch of the imagination.

I’ve always noticed that girls cry way easier than guys do.

I’m into looking at things from the other point of view. And if you look at who votes in the Oscars, mostly older Jewish guys, they’re going to vote for stuff they relate to. Do they relate to NWA? I doubt it.

One of my favorite movies is ‘Broadway Danny Rose.’

Marvel just does things differently.

I went to a prep school in Chicago, and my dad and mom worked really hard – even though we lived in the ghetto – to get me to there. A lot of it had to do with ‘Stand and Deliver’ and ‘Dead Poet’s Society.’ It does help you. It inspires you. It definitely did for me.

Some of my favorite actors are Gene Wilder and Eddie Murphy back in the day – that’s mainly what me and my brothers watched when we were kids.

I think, in any debate, you have to respect the other person’s point of view, if you agree or disagree.

It’s so interesting to watch Ben Stiller work because he just knows what’s funny.

I just wanted to be a part of something that’s a horror movie that scares you.

I used to live off of nothing.

I don’t think people are experiencing superhero fatigue. Do you hear people complaining that there are too many action movies? I think it’s good entertainment.

The reality that everyone is stereotyped – every one gets typecast, so you have to work to get out of that.

A shootout is a shootout. You go in and get the bad guys.

Play the role as a human being… human beings are three-dimensional.

You know, one of my favorite movies that inspired me and got me started was ‘Dead Poet’s Society.’

A good director is like a good coach. You want to play for him. You want to really show him your good stuff. You don’t want to let that person down. Ridley Scott is one of those guys.

I was in really good shape after I finished this movie, ‘End of Watch.’

I’ll read, like, ten scripts, and then sometimes if I’m lucky, there will be two or three scripts that I like, and sometimes they’ll all be dramas, or they’ll all be comedies, or there will be two dramas and a comedy, and then I’ll go for whatever. If I have to audition, I’ll audition. If it’s an offer, great.

I don’t know if I’m necessarily a role model, but hopefully I can inspire any artist – Latin or otherwise – to do this thing for a living.

I remember seeing ‘Dead Poet’s Society,’ and it made it appealing in a way that I actually went to prep school.

My understanding, when I think of immigration, is like… you know, this country was built on immigrants: the German, the Polish, the Italian, the Jewish, the Russians, the Eastern Europeans. So, all these people came in, and I don’t know who decided like, ‘No, that’s it! There’s a cap on it! No more people.’

When I watch movies with my kid like ‘Shrek,’ I’m like, ‘Wow, this is pretty funny.’ That’s why I wanted to start doing movies like that – so my kid would laugh at my jokes.

When I first set out to do it, I wanted to be a working actor, and now it seems like it’s superseded even my dreams.

I used to tour with this band. I was a drummer. I would tour a bunch for about 10 months out of the year and act for about two months. I would make what I needed from acting and would stretch it out.

You can think you know somebody. But when they’re trying to punch you in the face, you really know somebody. You learn their tendencies.

I want to become more successful.

I’d love to work with Woody Allen.