103 Quotes by John Cameron Mitchell

I like the fact that it's like The Ramones. You just have to change your name, and you're a Ramone. You just have to put the wig on, and you're Hedwig. Women have played it. Gay men, straight men, you know.

I've obviously always been aware of actor-oriented films, being an actor. Altman and Cassavetes were really strong. And then I realized their structures were quite fascinating, too.

Chaos is the natural state, and theater tries to make sense of it, but it's got to be a little messy to be believable.

'Hedwig' is not autobiographical, but what she goes through is clearly a big metaphor. She doesn't want to be what she is, but she comes to an understanding that what happened to her has actually made her whole.

I studied meditation, knowing it would be a huge new calming skill.

I'm not interested in replicating 'Hedwig' like a virus.

Growing up, it was uncool to admit that your family had any money. And then, instantly, money was cool. In Reagan's parlance, it was about freedom of the individual, which was freedom to be greedy... individual versus society. There was a weird seduction in that, which I still feel.

Getting the blood moving through your body does do wonders for your complexion.

We need punk now; we need it more than ever. We need rebellion by youth.