ON ACTING
“I can only participate in the scene.
I wouldn’t give anybody advice. Even if they asked for it. I’d probably try to be sweet because everybody’s gotta find their own way. I gotta find my own way.
When I read a script, I say, ‘Do I want to do these things? Do they resonate with me? Will they create an adventure that takes me to a place that I’m curious about?
I’m not there to interpret something or to tell you about a character. I’m there to have an experience and that experience will inform the character. You do the research for an accent, you do the research to imagine where he came from, things like that. But you aren’t thinking about those things when you’re playing the scene. You’re not saying, ‘When I reach for that glass, I’ve gotta think about his early days, be wistful.
I’m not there to interpret something or to tell you about a character. I’m there to have an experience and that experience will inform the character. You do the research for an accent, you do the research to imagine where he came from, things like that. But you aren’t thinking about those things when you’re playing the scene. You’re not saying, ‘When I reach for that glass, I’ve gotta think about his early days, be wistful’. Or whatever. You just aren’t. Most of the choices are made just by what’s going on. I think I mostly concentrated on the text and being there, and how to smoke that pipe well, and learning how to knit, and how to carry an axe. Things like that.
It’s really curiosity, and wonder, and learning stuff. If I’ve learned nothing else, [acting] is about the doing, it’s not the showing. That’s the most fundamental thing about performing. I abhor this expression, ‘nailing it’. There’s no such fucking thing. It’s wide open.”
William Dafoe
“I have never described myself as an actress.
I became a performer at a point in my life when … I stopped writing.
I started making films with Derek Jarman in 1985. We worked together for eight years and made seven films together. With him I learned a way of working collectively, and very often without a script of any kind – experiential, improvised and decidedly not acted. All of us who worked with Derek were expected to think of ourselves as authors of our own work, to be responsible for our own contributions. This was, inevitably, the emblematic experience of my earliest days making films, this sense of shared authorship. It has meant I have always looked for close working relationships above every other element when deciding on my steps ahead. It’s the connection and the joy of conversation between colleagues that keeps me making films.
Filmmaking is an extremely technical and precise art. However, the trick is that it might never appear – or, as you put it, display itself – as such. My personal attachment to filmmaking is to enjoy the forensic period of pre-production (which sometimes lasts several years) to the very hilt – figuring out the detail and thoroughly planning the fantasy being the best and most enjoyable of times. And then, the moment that shooting begins, with everyone gathered together, to abandon oneself to pure relaxation and play.
Doubtless, all artistic endeavor is informed – fueled, in fact – by the freedom of our unconscious. It is the meat and potatoes of our material, however aware or not we are of the fact.
Art, along with nature, justice and friendship are the greatest powers we can invest our lives in. We are mortal and, as such, the doom of our demise is beyond debate. It is a delusion to take this personally: there is no failure in this, but the triumph of inexorable evolution. Make hay while the sun shines! Life is short! See you up the mountain/on the beach/on the dance floor!”
Tilda Swinton
“Actors always want to know, how is it all going to work out? I don’t know. Where does it lead? I don’t know that either. The actor has to make a decision. I hate control. I’m not a leader. I’m only happy where there’s total confusion, where people function on their own level. You don’t know what’s gonna happen. You’re meeting twelve strangers and you see a bunch of people standing behind the camera and there are lights all over the place and obviously it’s being lit for one specific area because all the lights are there. So you see that and you don’t know what you’re gonna do! So the question is, at what point do I reveal what’s going to happen? My system is never to reveal it! My system is to create as much confusion as I possibly can so the actors have the full knowledge that they’re on their own, that there is nothing I’m ever going to tell them, ever, at any point in the thing. Except if somebody would say, ‘I think I’m going too far,’ I would disagree with them. Or if somebody would say, ‘Let’s take a break,’ I would disagree with them, you know? Or if somebody would small talk. In other words, ‘You are now to reveal your life and parts of your life that you don’t even know exist.’ I refuse to let myself or my characters seek refuge in psychology either for purposes of motivation or character analysis.”
“I don’t believe in ‘the character’. Once the actor’s playing that part, that’s the person. And it’s up to that per- son to go in and do anything he can. If it takes the script this way and that, I let it. But that’s because I really am more an actor than a direc- tor. I appreciate that there might be some secrets in people that might be more interesting than a ‘plot’. All people are really private – as a writer and a director, you understand that that’s the ground rule: people are private.”
John Cassavetes
"I'm not talking about 'following your dream.' I never like the inspirational value of that phrase. Dreaming is a way of trivializing the process, the obsession that carries you through the failure as well as the successes which could be harder to get through. If you're dreaming, you're sleeping.
It's imperative to always be awake to your feelings, your possibilities, your ambitions. But you also know this, for your work, for your passions, every day is a re-dedication. Painters, dancers, writers, filmmakers, it's the same for all of you, all of us. Every step is a first step, every brush stroke is a test, every scene is a lesson, every shot is a school. So let the learning continue."
Martin Scorsese
“When I tell people that I just learn my lines and that’s all there is to it, my wife thinks that I’m putting down the craft of acting. But I’m not putting it down. I have nothing but respect for the craft. And I could come up with all sorts of fancy theories about playing these characters but, basically, it’s just a matter of learning the lines. I’m sure that Robert De Niro and all the other Method guys would not approve of that. I admire them, but I’m just as Method as those guys. But I believe that the text is all the information you need.”
“By the time I get through with all that preparation on the set, and the reading of the script over and over again, I’m into the character. And I have been doing the same preparation for roles my entire career. It works for me. It’s as exciting to me now as it was 30 years ago.”
Anthony Hopkins
… “learning more about acting through the process of auditioning …”
“I miss that—the adrenaline of wanting something that much when you go into a room for something. That’s a really important part of a young actor’s life, because you learn your adrenaline levels, you learn how to calm your whole nervous system down. And the process helps enormously in terms of becoming unselfconscious—being able to walk onto a film set and not have that devil on your shoulder going, ‘They think you’re shit. You shouldn’t be here.’ It takes a lot to get through those feelings and move beyond them, and the audition process is helpful in that.”
“I’ve still got to do the same amount of work. I never take it for granted. I’d never just ‘show up. God, the idea of that makes me feel slightly nauseous—I would never just wing it. It’s a terrible thought to even contemplate! Because you can never rest on your laurels. Never expect that the world owes you anything. You have to go out there and get it and make the most of the opportunities that come your way, and that’s what I’ve always tried to do.”
“I think there’s a difference between being brave and being determined to be courageous. Being brave, to me, seems that it’s sort of an inherent quality that you either have or don’t have, or that you sort of accumulate over a period of time. You can’t just go, ‘OK, I’m brave.’ It’s like going ‘OK, I’m happy.’ It’s just not that easy for a lot of us! But I’ve definitely always been quite resilient—that’s one thing I will say.”
“I’ve taken it off the page, pulled it out of the writer’s hands, and absolutely made it my own”
“When you start dreaming as the character, you know you’re in there.”
“Those are the things that I admire: actors that go for it, heart and soul. It’s a wonderful thing when you really see it come to life. Sometimes, a performance can actually make you, as a creative team, rethink how you’d imagined that character might be.”
Kate Winslet
“There are things that I look for when I look to develop a character; I call it ‘the Big Five,’ What is your strength? What is your weakness? What is your ambition? What is your fear? And what is your secret?”
“When I ask if you’re talented, you’d better say yes. Not in a boasting sort of way, just a quiet confidence: ‘Yes, I’m talented. I know I am.’ You need that. And you need persistence and you need patience, and that’s not contradictory.”
“Are you in love with acting or are you in love with the idea of becoming rich and famous? Go study business if you want to be rich. And fame—I’m still trying to figure out what to do with celebrity, because it’s present. But on the other side of the celebrity coin is opportunity, and that’s what I find is the most desired thing of every single actor: opportunity. Just give me a chance to get in the room and perform.”
Bryan Cranston
Τhe essence of theatre lies in the presence of the actors.
I use the word actor by giving it the meaning of a body that vocalizes words and comes into contact with others. I use it in the sense of someone who vocalizes the words being thought or written in silence, and in doing so establishes a relationship with others, activates their thoughts and acts by being engaged in a dialogue.
And this human being, named an actor, is the owner of an individual body that refuses to share it with others. In other words, s/he is a person who establishes a collaborative expressive activity with others via his/her body, claiming individual differences. From a different point of view, each actor possesses in his/her body a secret, or “incommensurable,” that cannot be shared with others or a darkness, or the “unknowable.” An actor with a singular life history as an individual speaks a language that s/he can share with others in front of an audience while showing his/her own unique body.
The encounter between the body and the words is accidental at first. The process of making that coincidence seem inevitable, this is the actor’s job. And it is through this process that the director conveys to the audience a unified perception of the world of a collective. I think this is the job of the director working with the actors.
I believe that theater has been needed by many people because it has existed as an act of confirming that human beings are heterogeneous and cannot be visibly measured by the same standards. Based on this fact, I believe that theater has appealed for the establishment of common rules for the coexistence of human beings.
If I have to articulate the raison d’être for the existence of theatre in simple words, it is a cultural device that seeks to find out how to confront difference and sameness, coincidence and necessity for human beings, as well as how to confront a group of peoples and nations.
There are four things that an actor must be aware of at all times. They are the center of gravity, breathing, energy and voice. I believe that an actor’s abilities are proportional to the degree to which he has developed a stable center of gravity, oxygenation through breathing, energy burning, the voice that is emitted and concentration on these.
The professional conduct of a stage actor, the excellence of his/her performance, depends on the intensity of his/her concentration…
The word body is generally used to refer to the visible body, which is made up of a visible face, torso, hands and legs; all of them are also made up of muscles. When I say the body, however, I am referring to the center of gravity, oxygen, energy and speech that is uttered as invisible words.
Obviously, the flaws and weaknesses that appear as obstacles in the process of accomplishing a goal are different for each person, and the process of overcoming these obstacles is different for each individual. There is no general answer for overcoming them. The only way to do this is to find your own unique way to achieve that goal.
Computers have diminished the opportunities for humans to meet each other directly, to interact with each other using a lot of animal energy, and to promote mutual understanding.
A society in which humans are dependent on computers and the heavy use of non-animal energy to establish communication is accelerating the trend toward de-embodimentality in all areas. In such a society, what kind of raison d’être for theater and its activity can be given in the future?
Tadashi Suzuki
It’s strange. I always feel like a plumber when I’m approaching a part. I never have a feeling of knowing how to do it. When you are in the process you are “Oh yes I found that easy” so there are things there. But I always feel like a beginner with a new character.
I know more, I’ve lived longer, so I have a little bit more to draw on. But my process is the same. A muddled process.
Their (directors’) perception of that actor is he knows how to do it. Now, you don’t feel that way as an actor. You’re just exploring in the same way that a young person is exploring. You suggest. You say, “You could try that but you don’t have to, it might not work.”
I think storytelling, which at base is what we do, is an important component of society. So that we can live our fears, live our fantasies through story, whether it be novels or film
Jeremy Irons
If you can see what an actor has pre-arranged, it’s bad acting.
When I go to the theater, if I can see the acting, I already don’t like it. In other words, if it’s the performer and his mind and his speculations and what he fixes and arranges is visible to me, it’s bad acting, in my opinion.
When I believe there’s a human being in action up there, in that moment, alive, right there and then, I get spellbound. Now, to achieve that is, to me, harder than playing an instrument. It’s harder than fiddles. It’s harder than dancing. It’s harder than all the other performing arts, in my opinion. When you really achieve that understanding of human beings, that ability to place yourself into the shoes of another human being and reveal that life on stage it’s, to me, the ultimate experience.
Uta Hagen
I don't think you learn how to act. You learn how to use your emotions and feelings.
When I was younger, I considered a lot of things, but I couldn't choose, so I thought that being an actor would let me have many lives. It was a way to do all the jobs I wanted to do.
I've always wanted to be an actress but I never really asked myself why. I know now that I have this career for two major reasons: First, because it allows me to take such pleasure in work that I happen to be overwhelmed with happiness while acting. And second, because this job puts me the most in danger in relation to my emotional past.
I just want to do my best. I just want to find the authenticity of each character. That's what matters to me. It would be horrible to have an audience saying, 'Oh it's her.' It would be horrible. I want to experience something new each time.
When I was a kid, I started to have a lot of questions about human beings, and I was a troubled child because of all of these questions. I guess that's why I became an actress. Not only because my parents were actors and, yeah, it's a beautiful thing to tell stories, but I think I became an actress because I wanted to explore this- to explore what a human being is.
I think that when you discover something that was unknown before, it opens your mind, your heart. Roles after roles, I learned a little more about human beings. I want to go as deep as I can in a character.
I always wanted to express myself by being someone other than myself.
More and more I love being myself, but I love this work of totally changing personalities.
An actor has a huge failure in him. And this is not a weakness -- this can make you strong. But it's deep.
I was fascinated by this world of telling stories, of having a different day every day. And my parents were -- still are -- passionate people, and to be raised with passionate people who open the door of your imagination and your creativity, I think it's why I am an actress now.
Marion Cotillard
WHAT IS IT ANYWAY?
Acting … is not putting up a mask. Each time an actor acts he does not hide; he exposes himself.
Jeanne Moreau
An actor who is truly heroic reveals the divine that passes through him, that aspect of himself that he does not own and that he does not control.
John Patrick Shanley
Acting is not about being someone different. It’s finding the similarity in what is apparently different, then finding myself in there.
Meryl Streep
All my characters are me … I relate to these characters because aspects of their personality are like me. And I just turn up the parts of myself that are them and turn down the parts that aren’t.
Ryan Gosling
With any part you play, there is a certain amount of yourself in it. There has to be, otherwise it’s just not acting. It’s lying.
Johnny Depp
It’s got to do with putting yourself in other people’s shoes and seeing how far you can come to truly understand them. I like the empathy that comes with acting.
Christian Bale
The best thing about acting is that I get to lose myself in another character and actually get paid for it. As for myself, I’m not really sure who I am. I change every day…Don’t think for a moment that I’m really like any of the characters I’ve played. I’m not. That’s why it’s called ‘acting.’
Leonardo DiCaprio
Acting is a very personal process. It has to do with expressing your own personality, and discovering the character you’re playing through your own experience—so we’re all different.
Sir Ian McKellen
The audience doesn’t come to see you. they come to see themselves
Julianne Moore
You’re an actor. You can’t show a bit of reality. You’ve got to show the whole of reality. You’re there to portray that. It’s just like a dancer. You’re not going to say, “I’m only going to dance on my left foot. I’m not going to dance on my right foot. That’s not going to happen.” No. You have to be able to put yourself out there, otherwise you’re not an actor. For me, it’s very, very simple.
Steve McQueen Director
The art of acting is not to act. Once you show them more, what you show them, in fact, is bad acting.
Sir Anthony Hopkins
Acting is not about dressing up. Acting is about stripping bare. The whole essence of learning lines is to forget them so you can make them sound like you thought of them that instant.
Glenda Jackson
