A Quote by Willem Dafoe

Central to being an actor is pretending, and the adventure of it all. That's why you become a junkie for different kinds of situations. — © Willem Dafoe
Central to being an actor is pretending, and the adventure of it all. That's why you become a junkie for different kinds of situations.
If you know what it is before you even start, it's not as interesting. Central to being an actor is pretending, and the adventure of it all. That's why you become a junkie for different kinds of situations. I try to attach myself to people who really inspire me, and directors who are really passionate. That way, I can give myself more fully and trust the impulse behind why the film is being made, and I can be a little more irresponsible in finding out what the character is. I have to worry less about what the character means if I trust the director.
I think being an actor in general is acknowledging that we are constantly playing different roles, that we have all these different parts of ourselves and instead of pretending that you are just one thing, as an actor you get to admit that you've got all this stuff going on.
I love doing roles and movies that are different from each other. That's kind of why I like to be an actor because I get to play different characters and pretend I'm different people going through different situations.
I was very interested in highlighting group behaviour and I wanted to show that I think this is very fundamental about being a human being... that we are herd animals actually. So, I was looking for different situations that take place in different kinds of groups.
As a kid, I used to run around our garden waving a stick and pretending to be a million different people. That's why I became an actor, really.
I don't want to become a star. I never wished to become an actor, even when I am here. When you decide to become an actor, you've to choose why you're doing it. Are you doing it to become an actor or because you want to be famous? I am doing it because I love being in front of the camera.
You're all Buddhas, pretending not to be. You're all the Christ, pretending not to be. You're all Atman, pretending not to be. You're all love, pretending not to be. You're all one, pretending not to be. You're all Gurus, pretending not to be. You're all God, pretending not to be. When you're ready to stop pretending, then you're ready to just be the real you. That's your home.
There's nothing I dislike more than being in a photo shoot where they say, 'Be yourself.' That's not why I became an actress. That's what I find so funny: that you become an actor, and all of a sudden, everyone wants to know about you. But I didn't become an actor so I could show you me.
Whenever you move to a new atmosphere, the first few days are difficult. But I always felt that an actor needs to move out of his comfort zone and experience different working environments. And that's why I was looking at moving out of my own comfort zones and work with different kinds of people. It helps you grow as an actor.
That is the fun of being an actor. You play all different kinds of people.
Being singer is different than being an actor, where you call up sources from your own experience that you can apply to whatever Shakespeare drama you're in. But an actor is pretending to be somebody, a singer isn't. And that's the difference. Singers today have to sing songs where there's very little emotion involved. That and the fact that they have to sing hit records from years gone by doesn't leave a lot of room for any kind of intelligent creativity.
You're going to get different kinds of animation for different kinds of audiences. Traditionally, adult animation has been for the young male audience. There's no reason why that should be.
There are different kinds of concentration required to make a painting, different kinds of being present.
Every human being has an assortment of diverse identities, and it greatly matters which one is triggered by social situations, which hold up different kinds of mirrors. The same is true for nations.
You see people in different situations behaving in very different ways. That can only benefit you as an actor.
I just love the whole art form of acting, of being in front of a camera and playing different things. Not that I would ever say I'm the greatest actor in the world, but I am capable of playing different kinds of roles that emotionally I could get into.
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