James Caan - biography

“Actors have bodyguards and entourages not because anybody wants to hurt them - who would want to hurt an actor?  - but because they want to get recognized.  God forbid someone doesn’t recognize them.”

“There’s nothing more boring than actors talking about acting.”

“Some guys say beauty is only skin deep.  But when you walk into a party, you don’t see somebody’s brain.  The initial contact has to be the sniffing.”

“I’ve been lucky.  The critics never went out of their way to single me out for doing bad work.”

“My least favorite phrase in the English language is ‘I don’t care.’”

“I play a guy who believes he’s a king.  He’s the most common man in the world; in fact his family, like his suits, are just make-up.  It’s about dysfunctional people and dysfunctional relationships.”

“It’s a very charming movie about the mob - a real stretch for me.”

“There are a lot of guys in Hollywood who clap you on the back just a little too hard.”

“It is that, but really, it’s about how we don’t recognise the little things in life, or appreciate the little things in life like belonging.  A sense of belonging is a big thing today.”

“What’s the difference between sex and love?  I have four wives and five kids.  I apparently don’t know the difference.”

“I think we have to believe in things we don’t see.  That’s really important for all of us, whether it’s your religion or Santa Claus, or whatever.  That’s pretty much what it’s about.”

“I always thought of myself as some sort of athlete until I started playing golf a couple years ago.”

“One night I went over to get some dope from some Hollywood tough guy.  After I left, my son Scott, who was only fifteen, went over with a baseball bat to kill him.  I was laughing out of one eye and crying out of the other.  I thought, Who am I kidding?”

“People wonder why first-time directors can make a brilliant picture, then suck on the second one.  It’s because they’re a little terrified the first time.  So they listen to all the experts around them.”

“There’s a big difference between wanting to work and having to work.  And I had to learn that the hard way.  Now money is very important to me, because I ain’t got it.”

“Anyone of my generation who tells you he hasn’t ‘done Brando’ is lying.”

“I don’t think silicone makes a girl good or bad.”

“I never rode a bull - I’m not that stupid.”

“I’m here instead of having shoulder surgery.  But I’m not sure which is more painful.”

“Showing up every day isn’t enough.  There are a lot of guys who show up every day who shouldn’t have showed up at all.”

“To get over my divorce, I got a prescription to live at the Playboy Mansion for a while.”

“You have to be very careful when you let someone win.”

“You’re the only one who’s closing your eyes at night.  There’s no one else who can do it for you.”

James Caan has appeared in the following films:
Lady in a Cage (1964)
Red Line 7000 (1965)
The Glory Guys (1965)
El Dorado (1966)
Games (1967)
Countdown (1967)
Journey to Shiloh (1968)
The Rain People (1969)
Submarine X-1 (1969)
Rabbit, Run (1970)
A Date with a Lonely Girl (1971)
The Godfather (1972)
Cinderella Liberty (1973)
Slither (1973)
The Godfather: Part II (1974)
Freebie and the Bean (1974)
The Gambler (1974)
Funny Lady (1975)
Rollerball (1975)
Gone with the West (1975)
The Killer Elite (1975)
Harry and Walter Go to New York (1976)
Silent Movie (1976)
A Bridge Too Far (1977)
Un autre homme, une autre chance (1977)
Comes a Horseman (1978)
1941 (1979)
Chapter Two (1979)
Hide in Plain Sight (1980)
Violent Streets (1981)
Kiss Me Goodbye (1982)
Gardens of Stone (1987)
Dad (1989)
Dick Tracy (1990)
Misery (1990)
For the Boys (1991)
The Man with Three Arms (1991)
Honeymoon in Vegas (1992)
The Program (1993)
Flesh and Bone (1993)
A Boy Called Hate (1995)
Bulletproof (1996)
Eraser (1996)
The North Star (1996)
This Is My Father (1998)
Mickey Blue Eyes (1999)
The Yards (2000)
Luckytown (2000)
The Way of the Gun (2000)
In the Shadows (2001)
Viva Las Nowhere (2001)
City of Ghosts (2002)
Dogville (2003)
Elf (2003)
Jericho Mansions (2003)
This Thing of Ours (2003)
Lightfield’s Home Videos (2006)
New York, I Love You (2008)
New York, I Love You (2009)
Middle Men (2009)
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)
Mercy (2009)
Henry’s Crime (2010)
Detachment (2011)
Minkow (2011)
Small Apartments (2012)


James Caan directed the following films:
Hide in Plain Sight (1980)