Ron Livingston: Maddux Donner

Quotes 

• Maddux Donner : [narrating]  You would think that there's a sadness when you pull away from Earth. An ache for the mountains and what's left of the beaches. For the sweet smell of fresh air. I guess there's a little bit of that. But when you're an astronaut, you start asking yourself questions like, "How the hell did I get here?" "Was it hard work? Fate? Was it the hand of God?" You ask yourself, "Why am I one of the lucky suckers leavin'. Not one of the poor bastards being left behind?"

• Maddux Donner : [coming out of stall]  Ya know, they've been making these thinks for 200 years. You'd think they'd come up with something better than these buttons.

  Zoe Barnes : Think you can get 'em with zippers. And this is the ladies' room.

  Maddux Donner : Could've fooled me with that language. Kiss your mother with that mouth? That's friggin' shocking.

• Zoe Barnes : [testing spacesuit]  Nominal. Full range of motion, though I feel like the Michelin Man.

  Maddux Donner : Yeah, well there's always been an uncanny resemblance.

• Maddux Donner : [telling about another trainee]  500 feet straight up. 500 feet down. Bam. Chute didn't have time to open.

  Zoe Barnes : That's terrible.

  Maddux Donner : Yeah. But it's more stupid than you.

  Zoe Barnes : He died.

  Maddux Donner : Yeah, but it was funny.

  Zoe Barnes : Donner!

• Maddux Donner : Copy on the loogie. Zoe, you think you can spit for me?

• [last lines] 

  Maddux Donner : Life isn't always fair. Failure can be rewarded. Merit can be looked at like a disease. Sometimes I think the only natural selection happens in a petri dish. But, if it's in a petri dish, that's not really natural, is it?

  Maddux Donner : So the question is, who or what is it who's pickin' the teams? And why can results seem so unfair and so painful? I have no answers. All I know is, if they pick you first, you better come through. And you never, ever, ever pull the damn eject lever...