The Acting Blog

Great Quotes From Actors

I often fill my blog posts with the quotes of dead actors or dead acting experts, I thought today I’d share with you some great quotes from actors. Most of these were gleaned from watching the great series ‘Inside the Actors Studio’. It’s a favourite show that I only ever get to watch on YouTube. If you fancy watching them, take a look at them here.

Don’t necessarily agree with all of these, but they’re things to think about:

“The director’s job is to find out the best way to ‘put’ you into the character” Paul Newman

On Acting “The odds are, you’re gonna fail” Alec Baldwin

On Characterisation: “When sometimes what might happen is if you’re in a certain rhythm as an actor, playing a certain part, a character, at the end of the day, it might carry over…” Robert De Niro

“Your role as an actor, obviously in the theatre is, you hold the shape of the drama in your hands.” Edward Norton

“Eventually you have to get to a point where you say ‘fuck it’.” Michael Caine

“It really is about getting you to listen.  I would put that very high on the list of things that good actors do. ” Edward Norton

There was a quote here from Ethan Hawke about what animal you’re character is, but it made me start to wonder whether we should listen to actors when they talk about acting.  They do it excellently, they win awards, but not entirely sure that they know what they’re talking about.  I don’t mean to be disrespectful, this comes from reading a lot of biographies and listening to them being interviewed.  Something seems to be missing.  If you need to work out what animal your character is, you don’t understand the script.

I’m very aware that all these are guys, I’ll look for some quotes from the many amazing female actors currently working.

To You, The Best!

Looking for Acting Classes in Glasgow? Mark Westbrook is a Professional Acting Coach and runs Acting Coach Scotland, a private acting studio offering acting classes in Glasgow, masterclasses, workshops and audition coaching for actors at all levels. His acting studio is based in Glasgow, Scotland, although he teaches all across the United Kingdom. All Blog Posts © Mark Westbrook 2010

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Tags: Alec Baldwin on acting, Edward Norton Meisner, Inside the Actors Studio, Paul Newman on Directors, Robert De Niro on characterisation

William H Macy at the Actors Studio

Hey guys, I’m always looking out for interesting and inspirational things to post here for you.  Most recently, I watched the tremendous episode of Inside the Actors Studio, which featured Macy.  I enjoyed it all, but at the end, he said things that so categorically aligned with my view of acting, I wanted to share it with you.  It’s quite long, but check it out nonetheless, and maybe it will speak to you as it spoke to me:

Bill Macy:

“The whole thing about your emotions is, Grotowski found this out, if you perform an action, it will have an emotional reaction, you couldn’t stop it if you tried.  Your emotions will come out. You cannot bring them forth and you cannot hide them, they will come out.  And there’s never been a scene that is about being sad.  There are scenes about making a bond, that’s something you can do, but being sad, you’re gonna fake it, you’re just gonna be pretending.  What the audience needs to know is that you’re making a bond or you’re getting a promise, or that you’re laying down the law.  These are things that are within your will, that’s what counts.  And I’ll go further.  Actors are emotional people, the question always, should actors be emotional people?  You are emotional people, And here’s the thing, you are sufficient.   You don’t have to improve yourself.  First of all, you’re not gonna. In your study of acting, you’re not gonna become better people.  You are sufficient, you’re enough, you’ve got the goods, you’re completely emotional enough.  What we need from you is your bravery, your will.  If you do it right, the journey of the character is strangely similar to the journey of the actor.  In other words, the fear that the character feels is so similar to the fear that you feel.  At some point, you have to stop saying, I’m wrong to feel this way, I should be feeling something different.  The character should be feeling a certain thing.  Nah, if you’re feeling it, it’s real.

The purpose of the technique, always – always is to free your subconscious, because that’s where the truth lies.  That’s why you have a technique, so that you can let the inner stuff out, you wanna get out of your head and become impulsive.  That’s where you’ll find the truth.  And you’ve got the goods folks, you are sufficient”

Inspiring! I’d like to hear your comments.

Tags: Acting, Grotowski, Inside the Actors Studio, James Lipton, Practical Aesthetics, William H Macy