Eric Bana Quotes

My chosen exercise is cycling. I just love it.

— Eric Bana

“I think luck gets you on to the stage. But it has nothing to do with keeping you there.”

— Eric Bana

“When I was a kid, I would do stupid things on my bike. I'd jump any ramp, I'd jump over people, I'd jump over things - always crashing, never hurting myself badly but always wanting to take physical risks.”

— Eric Bana

“I guess subconsciously that all the great people you work with have an influence on you.”

— Eric Bana

“I love being at home, being with friends and family. I'm of European stock, brought up in Australia. I'm a passionate guy. I just love life.”

— Eric Bana

“I didn't study Greek mythology in school and I wish I had.”

— Eric Bana

I've always been attracted to cars, and driving is a completely measurable experience: if you qualify last on the grid, you're the slowest, and if you qualify first on the grid, you're the fastest. So no one can say you're slow if you're fast and no one can say you're fast if you're slow.

— Eric Bana

“I'm a bit of a romantic.”

— Eric Bana

Technically speaking, you can build anything out of sand; it doesn't mean you do it.

— Eric Bana

“I think I wasted a lot of my youth, falling for girls who were a couple of years older than me.”

— Eric Bana

“I have a theory that I really want my kids to know - the only coloration that they make between dad being in films and reality is just a lot of people doing a lot of hard work.”

— Eric Bana

I've never been someone that's had a five-year plan, or a three-year plan. That just seems to lead to a lot of disappointment, and doesn't give you the chance to be flexible.

— Eric Bana

“When I go on the plane to fly home, I'm literally capable of forgetting what I do for a job. That also comes about because I choose to take massive breaks between projects, and because I choose to do this ridiculous thing of keeping home, home.”

— Eric Bana

As an actor I've been attracted to the sort of films that I want to go and see. That tends to usually be drama-related.

— Eric Bana

“I never look at the size of the film when I'm looking for a part.”

— Eric Bana

I race historic muscle cars back in Australia, and that's my hobby. And I try to race home as soon as I've finished a movie but don't tell anyone.

— Eric Bana

“A girl's got to be fun. It's the one bit of advice I always give to friends of mine who are thinking of getting married.”

— Eric Bana

I fell in love with many women at school who had no idea I existed. I'm a bit of a romantic.

— Eric Bana

I get inhabited by a character and then you mourn it. There's a period of mourning for me, definitely.

— Eric Bana

“I hate being clean-shaven. My daughter gets very upset if I shave and says, 'Bring back the spikes, Dad.'”

— Eric Bana

“I really enjoy working on small films.”

— Eric Bana

If you can jump up onstage and make people laugh, shouldn't you also be able to inhabit a character?

— Eric Bana

It's always been my hope, as an actor, to reveal only what is relevant about myself to the work.

— Eric Bana

“My wife and I really, really like each other as well as love each other.”

— Eric Bana

The Israeli accent wasn't one that I was overly familiar with so had to learn from scratch but I was very fortunate I had the right amount of time.

— Eric Bana

The most serious film can be the most fun. The one that's supposed to be fun can be the most serious.

— Eric Bana

The movies people don't talk about or remember after six months' time don't really matter.

— Eric Bana

By the time I finished comedy, I was really burnt out of it. I had had enough. I don't really have a strong desire to prove myself in that area, or to go back to it in any great way.

— Eric Bana

Each time you go to the same track you know whether you're improving or whether you're not ... it's not open to interpretation. It's measurable - unlike acting.

— Eric Bana

“I've worked with some of the great cinematographers. So I'm always watching what they do and I'm watching how the director composes his shots, just because I find it interesting as an actor; you're trying to help them out as well.”

— Eric Bana

“If you're lucky enough to be involved in a film that's about something very real and that you hope will continue to hold up in 20 years' time it just gives you more energy and makes it feel all the more worthwhile.”

— Eric Bana

“There wasn't a moment where I got into cars. It wasn't a conscience decision or something that came later, it was there since I was born. I just love it.”

— Eric Bana

“You have to be proactive about your destiny and then realize that the other half of it is completely out of your control. I think it's fascinating.”

— Eric Bana

Definitely the script because you want to be part of an interesting story, you want your character to be a challenge, then comes the director. But essentially it's the script first and whether it's a character that you think you can do.

— Eric Bana

“It's usually very, very hard for me to pick up a script that was written and try and see myself as a part of that, especially when you're used to performing all your own material. It's OK with drama, I like being handed great material but I think with comedy it's far more personal and probably a lot harder for me to find a fit.”

— Eric Bana

“I think you need to be able to see a lot of negative in things in order to extract material, so there's probably something to that. A lot of the people I used to work with were very, very, very unfunny offstage, so that's a pretty common thing.”

— Eric Bana

I love working with people who have had television experience because I think there's a real efficiency and methodology that comes from that background.

— Eric Bana

“It's got to be a challenge but at the same time you have to feel as though you can play them - it's really dangerous to want to be a part of something just because you think it's going to be great. I've been sent plenty of scripts where I've known that it's going to be a great film and a successful one, but I just couldn't convince myself that I was the right person for the part. So, I think you have to be careful with that.”

— Eric Bana

“I don't consciously seek out Australian projects. I put them on the same table as all the other scripts and I wouldn't ever do a film just because it's been shot at home.”

— Eric Bana

I've had frustrated storytelling juices that have been lying dormant for a long time, and I guess the documentary was a way of me telling a story that I felt most qualified to tell. And I loved it, and I'd love to do something else someday, probably more narrative-based. But I'm in no rush.

— Eric Bana

“It's always hard but the reality is, especially in my case, that every time I go to work I have to do it so it's become part of the job. It's an extra challenge but it's also quite often another extra tool that you have to really think consciously about getting into the character. So while it does require more work, it's maybe even an advantage to a degree because it forces you to switch, to consciously have to jump into and out of the character.”

— Eric Bana

“We live our lives by the water and if you don't know how to swim in Australia, it's like not knowing how to cross a road. It's an incredible survival thing that you really must learn when you're a child.”

— Eric Bana

“I guess on a base level that's one of the first parental instincts that you have with children in Australia is learn to swim. Not only learn to swim but learn to swim strong.”

— Eric Bana

Throw your children in the surf and let them get used to it. They have to learn all about rips and tides and swimming between the flags and all that sort of stuff. I know that sounds ridiculous but it's true.

— Eric Bana

“I never really think much about the size of a production because I think as an actor, once you're in it, it's all the same. I never ever pick projects based on their size.”

— Eric Bana

“I do believe in reading signs if they're really obvious to you. Things happen. Someone will say something to you today in the morning and then later on that day someone will mention the same thing and then the next day someone will mention it again. There's a reason why three people have said something within twenty four hours.”

— Eric Bana

“I always use the analogy that when you go to a jeans store and put on a new pair of jeans, it's a pair of jeans and they feel different; so, when you're dealing with these sort of costumes it's a very big departure and really does make you feel quite different. But it's wonderful.”

— Eric Bana

“There's a plethora of wonderful documentaries. I made a point of not looking at anyone else's portrayal of Henry because I think it would have been too confusing - so I've got a lot of films to look forward to.”

— Eric Bana

“If a great comedy landed on my doorstep, I would find it hard to say no.”

— Eric Bana

“I don't like working in a studio, at all. I just prefer to be on location, rather than hearing the bells of the studio going off. It's like being in Las Vegas, where no one knows the time and there are no windows.”

— Eric Bana