Matthew Modine Net Worth

Matthew Modine's Quotes

• Crazy for You (1985) was maybe the hardest film I've ever done, because I never wrestled before in my life. I was a struggling actor that wasn't really fast. I was in drama school smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee and trying to like every young actor at a drama school, trying to be James Dean and be posing. So when I met Harold Becker, he said, "Can you do five push-ups?" I was pretty skinny, so I had to get in shape to do Vision Quest, and that was really, really, really hard and a real pleasure to work with that girl Linda Fiorentino. She's a tough New Jersey broad, very much like her role in the film. It was just fun and a very, very, very hard film to make.
• Birdy (1984) was the movie that every actor of my generation wanted. The interesting thing about Birdy is that I auditioned for the role of Al Columbato. I didn't audition for Birdy. I imagined somebody very, very different playing Birdy. I was up in Toronto working with Mel [Gibson]. We were living together, we were sharing a house together, and Alan Parker called and said, "Congratulations, I want you to be in my film." I was like, "Are you going to change the name of Columbato, or am I going to play an Italian-American?" And he goes, "You're not playing Al. You're playing Birdy." I was like, "What?" I had to get my head around playing Birdy. I never read one line for Birdy, and he cast me as Birdy. Later that day, it was really weird. We were at Mel's house, and it was kind of a weird snowy day, and this big red robin came into the house and crashed into the glass. It was like a scene out of Birdy. I picked up the robin and kind of held it for a minute. It was clearly dead. I held the bird for a little while and stroked it, and in fact, it wasn't dead, and it hopped up on my finger and just sat there. I have a great photo of Mel and I standing there that my wife took. He's laughing and going, "This is a sign! This is a sign! You were meant to play Birdy. Look at this, man." So a wonderful omen. One of my favorite films I've worked on was Birdy.
• The Hotel New Hampshire (1984) was the first time I played a real scumbag. I was working in Toronto with Mel Gibson and Diane Keaton on a movie called Mrs. Soffel (1984), and I went to see the movie open up there in a theater in Toronto. And I remember the people sitting behind not recognizing me and going, "I hate that guy. What a prick." And I thought "I'm never going to play another bad guy again, because people don't like you." The Hotel New Hampshire was fun because it was Tony Richardson, who had directed Tom Jones (1963), and he in his own way is a legendary filmmaker. I was working with Nastassja Kinski and Jodie Foster, so that was real pleasurable.
• (On Streamers (1983)) That was a tremendous opportunity to meet a legend, Robert Altman. Just the whole rehearsal process, the casting process, and then going down to Texas to work in his brand-new studio that had been built in Las Colinas. It was a really, really, intense experience. It was a bunch of guys who didn't have their girlfriends or their wives and who all went down, and it was a very drunken... You know... working with Robert Altman. It was a great experience. It was a lot of drinking that went on down in Texas. There was a lot of partying that went on down in Texas. Then we won the prize at the Venice Film Festival. It was an unprecedented award that gave the Best Actor award to the cast. It was an ensemble.
• (On Baby It's You (1983)) This was a great opportunity to work with one of America's really interesting independent film directors, John Sayles, who had given so many young actors an opportunity to work when they were struggling to get their foot in the door. Robert Downey Jr., Fisher Stevens, Meg Ryan, Rosanna Arquette, they sort of had the leads. There were all these other people where this was their first film. Their entrée into the world of film. Vincent Spano and Rosanna Arquette and Tracy Pollan, Michael J. Fox's wife. It was just really fun to be working with people that you met in the acting community of New York, everyone that you would meet on auditions. All of a sudden, all of us had jobs on a film.

Interesting Facts about Matthew Modine

1. Good friends with Eric Stoltz.
2. Has a son Boman Modine (b. 8 November 1985) and a daughter Ruby Modine (b. 31 July 1990).
3. Was originally offered Tom Cruise's role in Top Gun (1986). Turned down the part because he disagreed with the film's cold-war politics.
4. Is a neighbor of Liam Neeson.
5. Learning to fly-fish; his teacher is Liam Neeson.
6. Is a horticulturist and a carpenter.
7. Loves to paint.
8. Studied acting with Stella Adler.
9. The Montreal-based band "Pony up!" wrote a song about him called "Matthew Modine" because one of the girls used to have a huge crush on him. You can find the song on the band first LP called "Pony up!".
10. Brother of Mark Modine.
11. On a radio interview with Jonathan Ross in late February 2006, he said he was only baptised a Mormon, but the family wasn't very orthodox or 'tight-knit', and only practiced seriously during his very early years.
12. Attended Brigham Young University.
13. Nephew of former Broadway star Nola Modine Fairbanks.
14. Was member of the dramatic jury at the Sundance Film Festival in 1994.
15. Founder of Bicycle For A Day (BFAD) A global initiative bringing together people who choose to ride a bicycle rather than use gas-powered motor vehicles, immediately reducing their carbon footprint.
16. His paternal great-grandfather, Andrew Daniel Andreassan Modine, was Swedish. His other ancestry is English, with some Scottish, German, and Dutch.
17. Starred in three movies about the Vietnam War: Streamers (1983), Birdy (1984) and Full Metal Jacket (1987).
18. Streamers (1983) co-star David Alan Grier was the godfather of his two children.
19. Friends with Edward Asner.
20. Martin Short's Hollywood obsessed character, Jiminy Glick, has sons named Matthew and Modine.