Stars’ quotable quotes in 2016

(First of two parts)

LOS ANGELES—They said what? As 2016 comes to an end, we recall the quotable quotes dished by the talents we interviewed. We are grateful for the following bon mots, in contrast to the monosyllabic answers that we sometimes got.

Kerry Washington

I always think about a quote that a dear friend of mine said. He’s a very powerful executive in marketing. He said to me, “Kerry, the thing to remember is that the most sexist and racist thing that’s ever been said about you, you don’t even know about it, because you weren’t allowed in the room.”

Iggy Pop

(On life on the road tour) There were scenes with people chasing me with an ax. The roadie from the other band, Slade, chased me with a bloody hand ax. And really blood and guts, passing out or hyped up and all that—and no money in it or anything.

Andrew Garfield

Marty (Martin Scorsese, “Silence” director) told me the Pope (Francis) said something to him, which made me well up. Marty had told the Pope that I had gone through the spiritual exercises in preparation for the role, and the Pope was obviously very impressed by that. The Pope said, “The next step is to ordain him as a priest.”

Chris Pratt

(On his unusual experience as an airplane passenger) Joining the Mile High Club, probably. That’s like when you have sex on an airplane. I did that on a flight to Amsterdam about 15 years ago. That was probably the coolest thing I’ve ever done at 30,000 feet. It was pretty cool. Now, they check the toilets. But I got in just at the right time.

Jennifer Lawrence

Sex scenes are the most un-sexual thing in the entire world. They’re just awkward and funny.

Tracee Ellis Ross

(On when she was caught by her mom Diana Ross raiding the pop diva’s closet) She was leaving for a tour, and she had pulled out of the driveway. I had already gotten into the closet and was throwing things over to my closet. I took her clothes so that I could imagine them as mine. But she had forgotten something and came back. She was standing in the bathroom (laughs). I was like, “I wanted to clean your closet for you. I was going to organize it.” I was like, oopsie!

Dwayne Johnson

(On whether he had imagined being the highest-paid actor in the world) Never. I did not. Nor was it my goal. When I was 14, I was evicted. So, my motivation to make something of myself came out of that. I didn’t want to be evicted again.

We lived in a little efficiency (studio apartment) in Hawaii. We were kicked out of that, then forced to leave the island. So, I never thought I’d be sitting here, and you and I would be discussing me being highest paid. I am very grateful.

Eddie Redmayne

(On his mating dance with a fantastic beast) We looked up all these YouTube videos of mating animals. I made a fool of myself for two weeks. David Yates (director) has on his phone videos of me doing these different mating dances, which could end my career. It was so embarrassing (laughs)! Sweetly, he would call up—and I’m sure you know David, and he has the loveliest manner in the world—and he’d go, “Maybe that one was too tribal or too aggressive.” He would give me notes and, gently, we found our way through.

Jamie Dornan

I’m not into that (S&M); my wife isn’t into it. Obviously, there’s a huge market for it. [But] it doesn’t interest me at all. So, I don’t think it has had any influence on our sex life. I can’t believe I’m talking about our sex life (laughs)!

Mel Gibson

(On what he does not miss about being a heartthrob) You mean I am still not one? I don’t miss the pressure of that label.

Meryl Streep

When told that Hugh Grant admitted that he was very intimidated working with her, she turned her head to the left, dramatically paused, laughed, then exclaimed, “Good!”

Anthony Hopkins

I remember being onstage with Sir Laurence Olivier and Maggie Smith. They didn’t like each other. She respected him, but he was very impatient with her because she was a rebel, and she did her own thing. I remember one night I was onstage with Michael Gambon playing extras [in “Othello”]. He (Laurence) slapped her (Maggie) across the face for real. We all went, whoa! There was a moment of silence, then she started crying. She got through it.

Apparently, Laurence went to her dressing room and said, “Maggie, I am so sorry to hit you like that. I didn’t mean to, and you must have seen stars.” She said, “More stars than I have ever seen in this place, dear.”

Russell Crowe

(On Ryan Gosling, his costar in “The Nice Guys”) He’s a very serious little insect. He asks lots of questions.

Ryan Gosling

(Returns the compliment) I would play something in the trailer, and Russell would quickly turn it off. Then, he’d play whatever he wanted to play.

Paul Rudd

There’s always the weird one when you’re standing at a urinal next to somebody, then he wants to shake your hand (laughs). It has happened. Or a selfie. Yeah, I’ve actually been standing at a urinal and somebody was trying to take his picture with me. I was like, come on!

Aaron Paul

(On life when he was trying to make it in LA) It was hard living in a walk-in closet for over a year, but the rent was so cheap. It was my own little private space, but I can look back at it now and appreciate what I went through.

So, yeah, I’m happy that I had that struggle, because I’ve seen a lot of close friends of mine who had success at a very young age. Then, it just started going downhill, and they couldn’t take it. They either quit or started substance abuse.

(To be concluded tomorrow)

E-mail [email protected]. Follow him at https://twitter.com/nepalesruben.

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