A Quote by Anthony Hopkins
Oh yes. I'm an actor, so I just learn my lines, and show up and do it. I gave it a little bit of thought.
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I'm not an actor. I can show up for friends and improvise a little bit, but I'm not an actor. I can't remember lines.
It's hard because there's a little bit of PTSD from when you're a struggling actor, working at a restaurant or living in a garage. There's a little bit of an inherent knee-jerk reaction to say, 'Yes, yes, yes, please just give me a job.'
I'm not an actor. I can show up for friends and improvise a little bit, but I'm not an actor.
My first job was a show called The Others. I had, like, three lines. Julianne Nicholson was in it, and Gabriel [Macht]. I remember Gabriel wasn't there the day I was, but he sent a note, because he went to Carnegie Mellon as well, so we knew each other a little bit through that, and he was so sweet and generous. It was meant to be a recurring role that would evolve on the show, but the show only lasted a little while and I ended up only doing that one episode.
I find I'm most challenged by things I really care about, because I really want to do them well. It causes quite a bit of anxiety. But that very thing you're afraid of is kind of like a blessing in disguise. If you didn't have that fear, you wouldn't have the other side - courage and bravery, positive emotions.As an actor, you get used to those fears, and you're almost happy when they show up. It makes you learn your lines and prepare.
It used to be that you kind of got pigeonholed into one thing - you're either a stage actor or a TV actor or a movie actor. Today, there's a lot of crossover with film actors doing television, which never happened before, so those lines are a little bit more blurred than they used to be.
Stories come to me and I don't know where they come from, but afterwards I can look back and say, 'Oh yes, that's got a little bit of me, or a little bit of my own son in it'. That's where ideas come from.
I think in general, lines are a bad idea. Especially if they sound like lines. Everyone's immediate reaction is to just kind of cringe a little bit.
John [Cassavetes] loved actors. He gave them a lot of freedom. So if something came up that a certain actor just felt at the moment and said - that kind of improvisation he would accept. He gave very little direction.
Practice your improv more than learn your lines. 'Cause there's no way you'll be able to learn all those lines in a short time. You have to realize what you know and what you don't know - and what you don't know, just come up with three alternate lines or improv that you can put in that spot.
I guess it's a little bit sentimental, but at the time I was really very focused in on really my performance. Afterward, it was really just a breath of fresh air, just like, 'Oh, yes, I'm back now. I'm doing good.'
Honestly, a lot of the time, I'm like, 'Oh, my god, I've got so many lines to learn,' that I have to focus and get in into a bit of a zone, but there are always moments to have some fun.
I love live theater. I get my rocks off by doing stand-up, and I am the only actor. But to show up eight times a week and not have that time for myself; to do someone else's lines? When I work for Wendy Wasserstein or Terrence McNally, Neil Simon or even Shakespeare, I do not have the right to change the lines.
I went to the Old Bailey, and I met a judge, and I was petrified, but they were like, 'Oh, you're an actor, well, great.' It was a bit like we're cut from the same cloth a little bit.
The Avalanches was a great dance track, I thought, but I always feel a little bit let down when there are just two lines repeated constantly. Over and over. Forever.
It's important that the actor doesn't feel like they're working in a vacuum. If the actor is told, 'Oh, it's a secret; just play it this way or that way,' it's a bit patronising. I think you have to bring the actor into your thinking and explain things.
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