Actors are the best and the worst of people. They're like kids. When they're good, they're very very good. When they're bad they're very very naughty.
It's interesting - a lot of good actors are good mimes. But I'm terrible. If I tried to do an impression, nobody would know what I was doing.
Being an actor is often very tedious, which is why it helps hugely if your fellow cast members are also good friends.
Actors do have good and bad sides. It's because the passage down the birth canal distorts the face. People born by caesarean section are more symmetrical.
Acting for me is like a ping-pong game. That's the secret of acting. When you have a really good actor, I always want to be as good as he is or she is.
I love going to the movies; I love watching good movie actors. They must know something I don't.
As a director you come in and tell the actors how good they are.
Good directors give short and specific instructions to their actors.
If another actor gets a good role, I'm furious.
I'm an actor; I'm vain - you want to look good.
What really makes it fun for an actor is when the script is good.
People are confusing me with a good actor when I'm just a good mimic. When someone asks me to play a nun from the fifteenth century, you'll see what I mean.
I always say if you've seen good acting on television, those actors are really good. Because there's just not enough time. You don't have any preparation.
Its only when you are a great actor and are recognised for your good work that you become famous. Unless you are in the news for the wrong reasons!
I have learned a lot from jazz. I compare good acting to jazz music. The more you study and prepare as an actor, the more equipped you are to live in the moment. Just like the gifted musicians in my dad's quartet, it takes a courageous actor to be fr...
My tendency as an actor was to correct people, was to say, 'What if we tried it this way, what about if we tried that way?' That's terrible habit for an actor, but that's a good habit for director. So I became a director.
I've learned 90 percent of what I know from watching and listening to actors. A good leading actor is the rock of the show. Their energy and their tone really sets the groundwork for how everything is going to work. I've been lucky to deal with stars...
When I shoot actors, I have that dilemma. I want the actor to be good, and sometimes I have to push them to a place that isn't pleasant. I always think: 'Is it worth doing for the sake of the movie?' But I have to remember the bigger picture.
Well, I've always been a character actor, you know, and you always get your share of character actors who are bad guys. So it never surprises me. And if it's good writing, you can find your way into the part well enough.
Nothing taxes an actor more thoroughly than a good audiobook.
It's very good for me to remember what actors go through.
