A Quote by Annette Bening

To me, I didn't think of acting as being a young thing only. — © Annette Bening
To me, I didn't think of acting as being a young thing only.
The most difficult thing about acting and directing in a film is acting and directing in a film. Every ounce of your physical and emotional being, and your analytical and thoughtful and producorial being, is being exercised at all points. You are 100% working on overdrive, but because it is only for X amount of days, if you have the stomach for it, you hustle through. It's a massive undertaking, and I think preparation is the key to success for that endeavor.
I've got two older sisters, which I think was the best thing but also the worst thing. They dressed me up like a girl, but at the same time, I think they taught me a lot of what they experienced and what they lived through and passed that on to me as a young man and influenced how I approached not only women but people.
Acting came easy to me, I think. There's something about it that's a lot easier for me in the sense that you're playing someone else. In music, you're giving somebody 'you.' Being able to do that and being willing to share that is an entirely different thing.
I trained at the Lee Strasberg Institute at Tisch, which is a huge foundation for young actors. They teach you their methods and give you the sense that acting is much more tangible than most people think. I think there's a mysticism of what acting is, in the fact that it's this ungraspable, spur-of-the-moment thing that nobody can understand.
Acting is the only thing I'm even vaguely good at and acting is something that I think I do know about.
You reminded me of a quote that my acting teacher Stella Adler wrote in her book ['The Art of Acting'], which I asked her to sign: "The young actor feels some greatness inside themselves that they want to give back to the world." That resonated with me, but I didn't really understand what she was talking about until much later, in the way you surmised that my struggle to become an actor was from being this kind of introverted young boy.
Acting is a very important thing for me, and I love doing it. But when I'm acting, I spend 14 hours a day and months a time being someone else. When I'm singing, I just get to be me.
Acting has helped me understand people, not only because you are acting as a character, but also because you are watching other actors work. That really helps you identify in life when someone is acting, not being true.
My education was a huge influence. I trained at the Lee Strasberg Institute at Tisch, which is a huge foundation for young actors. They teach you their methods, and give you the sense that acting is much more tangible than most people think. I think there's a mysticism of what acting is, in the fact that it's this ungraspable, spur-of-the-moment thing that nobody can understand.
The thing with acting is I'm at the liberty of someone who wants to book me. With music, I can do it all the time. With acting, I could, too, if I wanted to write a script and do that whole thing, but music is a constant thing. Acting, I have to audition.
The physical stamina [in Revolution]. I was just shocked by it. I didn't think I had it in me ever, and I wasn't terribly young when I did it. I was in my early forties. That was the first thing I was struck by, not by the acting, not by anything else, but by the physicality.
The only thing that made its way to actually happen for me was acting. I love it, and I love being on set. I love being in rehearsal for things and telling stories. It's what I feel I am supposed to be doing.
I only had one focus and one direction, and I knew where my spirit and heart lived, and it was in singing and dancing and acting, being that. I know a lot of young people dream that, but it's good that it worked out for me because it was all I ever wanted to do.
I began acting when I was very young, maybe 5 or so? Just by going to acting classes and that sort of thing.
In a weird way, it’s kind of a relief to think, ‘Oh, I know I’m not that young sort of pretty thing anymore.’ It’s quite nice talking about what it was like to be the young pretty thing, rather than being it.
Actually, acting turned out to be the perfect job for me, because I had a lot of different interests. I thought about being a priest at one point. I thought about being a teacher. I thought about being a lawyer. But I think acting is probably the best job for me.
This site uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience. More info...
Got it!