"It’s corny but dark, dark, dark in spots. It was really dark when Jimmy Stewart is having his existential breakdown, wandering the town, having been given a chance to see what the world would be like had he not been there. We all kind of wonder that on some level — if not consciously, it’s probably part of what’s inside us. Something that is interesting about that film, there’s a character actor named H.B. Warner — he’s in all Capra films, playing a wide variety of roles. In this one, he plays the drunken druggist Mr. Gower. There’s a scene early on where Jimmy Stewart’s not even in the film yet. Young George has injured his ear in a sledding accident and Mr. Gower, drunk and depressed, accidentally sends George out with a prescription of poison to give a patient. When he figures it out and goes back, Mr. Gower is incensed, and beats him savagely. He hits him in the ear, and then when Mr. Gower realizes that the kid has saved this woman’s life and come back and he’s made a horrible mistake, he tries to embrace the boy. The boy’s fighting and the druggist is trying to comfort him, and himself at the same time. It’s a scene that if I think too hard about it, I’ll weep. It’s such a beautiful moment between two human beings. The kid was a great kid actor, but H.B. Warner is such a master, and I relate to character actors in a lot of ways. He was this guy who just bounced around from project to project, making everything he does, every story, richer for his presence. I have a lot of respect for that."

"I think it’s probably one of the most inspirational movies for me because of Paul Newman‘s performance. I think that is, to me, some of the best, [most] controlled acting in a movie. I think that he has this incredible likability. Even though he’s a drunk, washed-up lawyer, you’re still rooting for him from the very beginning. I’m that sort of weird guy who will watch a movie almost every day if I can. It’s harder when you’re working on the show. I buy a lot of movies on used DVD so I can have certain scenes. I was really looking for things to inspire me. When I got out of college I was waiting tables professionally [and] couldn’t afford to go the theater [every] night. I think those great movies can actually make you feel a certain way. Not only emotionally, but if you’re in this business, it’s one of those things where you see someone do something that good and it buys you a year of energy. That’s what I was really looking for. It sounds so cliché,[but I wanted] to bask in the glow some of these amazing performances, like [those of] Dustin Hoffman and Marlon Brando. But it was also fun. To get back to what I was saying before, that 1970s raw energy, it’s almost frustrating now that people aren’t making more movies like that because people won’t go see them. Even Away We Go is, in a way, a tribute to the 1970s movies, too, but more of the Hal Ashby thing. Again, I don’t think people are making movies like this, so for Sam to do it is incredibly cool. And the fact that my name’s on the poster is totally surreal."