Jeff Baena Quotes

I never practice before, I never work hours on a script. I just choose my characters and trust them, and after that, it's about the director taking your hand.

I don't sit around and study the pages of a script over and over again.

I tried to copy some of his mannerisms at first but it didn't work. And then I just let the spirit of the character grow in me and it just took its rightful place. I started to speak the lines and it felt right.

I never like to refer back to anything I've done when I'm working on a character, even if that character has the same occupation.

I'm not a method actor per se, but if I'm playing a character that, at its core of its persona, has experiences I don't have, I try to search out and get firsthand experiences of similar sorts so I have something to fantasize about.

I guess I'm probably a Method actor; I don't know... I just think of it as staying in the zone.

There are two schools of thought: There are those actors who explain to you that they know exactly how they're going to do the part... And then there is the other method, which is to have no method at all. This is mine.

I tend not to have any references to anything. I just jump into the script in front of me. If you reference too much, you have no idea if the performances are right.

I've done films where we don't rehearse, and I've done films where we heavily rehearse. I like rehearsals.

If I have an audition, I go to the audition in character. I'm in character when I walk in the room. I mean, I'm still sweet to everyone, but I'm very much the character.

For me, acting is a series of impressions rather than trying to find one line through to the end, which risks becoming more of a presentation.

I got my training here in Chicago at the Goodman School Of Drama, and a lot of my personal work is usually internal work and stuff. Everything else that goes on is icing on the cake - your wardrobe, your makeup, whatever else you have to do.

I know there are some actors who are just brilliant at improvising and brilliant at just being in the moment and doing it there and then. I'm not one of those actors.

As an actor, you really want to respect and honor the script. You want to try to be in the moment and you also realize that you're one part of a bigger picture and when they call action, you have your dance.

I mean, a lot of time rehearsals are taken up with other things other than preparing a character.

I think as an actress, I prefer having a character on the page. It allows you to be more invested in actually creating a whole person. It's easier when you're not trying to come up with your next line on the spot.

Part of an actor's job is to draw up a back story.

You jot down ideas, memories, whatever, concerning your real life that somehow parallels the character you're playing, and you incorporate that in your scene work.

A lot of the time, as an actor, you don't have the freedom to change what your lines are, and they can often be very unnatural or difficult to portray in a real light.

Before shooting, I prepare with the actors much more like it's a theater play than a movie. Apparently, that way of working is very unusual.

I like to rehearse with the actors scenes that are not in the script and will not be in the film because what we're really doing is trying to establish their character, and good acting to me is about reacting.

In every film, whether it's a fictional character or not, you create an idea of the character and for me I always do a bad impersonation to start with.

My process is I try to learn my lines so they're so solid I don't have to think about them or how I'm going to say them.

I try to create as many circumstances outside of set that help me fall into character when I get onto set.

Sometimes you do complete run-throughs of scenes, sometimes you break scenes down into little bits. It just depends on what the actors like to do. It's almost like jamming.