Alden Ehrenreich

I haven't worked enough to worry about getting typecast, but I do as a film lover didn't want to be working with the bad guys. I didn't want to be making a movie I thought was contributing to a lower base of movies that I just didn't think were helping people, really.

I really think that movies are the most popular form of story telling ever and have such a huge impact on culture when they do. So I really want to be a part of those movies that say something good to a lot of people.

The aspect of kind of living in your imagination and creating a more romantic vision of the world than the reality that you're given - that's definitely something I can sort of relate to.

For me, the drive is storytelling. To be a part of an art that tells a story and to be a catalyst, a color in that, is very exciting.

Some movies, I think, present ideas of the world that just don't help people with their lives. They just present things that are fleeting or stupid. So that's what I'm careful about - making sure I'm part of something that is saying something that I think is valuable in the world of people, not necessarily in the world of art.

When I was a little kid, my parents would show me Marx Brothers' films and westerns and stuff like that. That's where all my desire to be an actor comes from and probably most of my understanding of acting comes from for sure.

I was told one time never to go longer than an hour in an interview because you reveal yourself too much, but I never follow that rule.

There's movies that I would've loved to be in that I just wasn't even considered for because they need a name. And that happens so frequently that, after a while - from a creative standpoint - you just want to be able to have that opportunity to work with the best people. That opportunity is available to you with a certain level of notoriety.

I think, for me, the only real value to fame, stuff like that, is that you can then have a lot more creative power to get certain movies made and to do certain things.

I'm glad that I had the upbringing I did where I was just part of what everyone else was a part of. And prom and all that.

I feel like some of the best roles that I've gotten to play I could've never preconceived. These things happen to you in an unexpected fashion, so it's hard to pre-imagine what that would be because some of the best opportunities I've had I could've never anticipated or expected.

Oh, I've been ridiculously lucky to work for, I'd say, five of the greatest directors of all time... and a lot of other great people, too.

My feeling is that I don't really care about the genre or the size of the movie. I care about the quality of the writing and the quality of the characters.

To be honest, you go to a bat mitzvah in Los Angeles, and you can count on at least a few industry people to be there.

It's always been very important for me to be surrounded by people. It's never been enough for me to be successful alone. I want to be around people my own age who are also doing things I can learn from.

I just really want to continue to play those roles where I really have something to do, and mainly, above all, work with people that I can learn from - directors I think are so great.

I did my first film with Francis Ford Copploa, which spoiled the hell out of me.

An era that I specifically like is sort of late '50s, early '60s. I guess mid '50s, too. I like these types of films that deal with post-WWII America and this more complex leading man that kind of emerges from that.

The people I see every day have known me since I was a little fat kid.

If I had to do a lot of promotion as a kid, it would have been very intense. I'm really glad I got to go through high school, have a college experience, and have the last five years since then, just... being a person.

My parents used to do these little film festivals in our house where we'd watch all the Marx Brothers movies, or Chaplin movies, and a lot of westerns.

I've had a couple opportunities where I've been on the other side of the audition process as a director, so it's really reassuring to me that it's just about who is right for that role and less about if you ace the audition. It's just about getting to know people, not about who's a better actor a lot of the time.

My favorite one... it's hard to pick a favorite. But the one I really love a lot is 'A Serious Man.' I just love, love 'A Serious Man.'

I think it would be frustrating having to do things you wouldn't want to do, having to make movies you didn't like.