Martin Landau Quotes

You want to give the director what they want, and you don't always know exactly how it goes, so you want to try it a few different ways. You have to be flexible; you have to be in collaboration with the director; you have to be versatile. But you also want to be protective of what you really believe in and how you feel it should be portrayed.

A good director creates a playground for actors, and lets them go. The trick for a good director is in casting properly, and creating the playroom, and then they'll get stuff that they don't expect, and can't even direct. All the audience wants to believe is that whatever is happening, it is happening for the first time. They want to see the people within the work exchanging dialogue and action in that moment. There are not a lot of actors that can do that.

It was amazing that during rehearsals, without any of the costume on, the character was there complete. It just happened. Half the time, I didn't know I was doing it.

Any time a writer thinks he has all the answers to how someone should talk or react or end a scene, it's a spontaneity-killer.

The hardest thing is that I never do anything the same way twice, and when I'm on the air, I'm very unscripted, and I'm very comfortable in that role. So me being scripted is not a comfortable place for me.

Losing yourself in the character opens you up in a way that no amount of precise preparation can.

I think too many people edit themselves way too soon. There's plenty of time to edit, and it is a crucial part of it all, too.

I don't rehearse a lot. I try to keep it organic. Even in movies, the less I rehearse, the better I am.

So I usually call the songs when I get on the stage, according to what the crowd feels like to me. I can jump from 50 years ago to right up to now, and people will be familiar with the songs. And since we never do them the same way, it's a new experience.

I don't like to hold too much formality in concerts. It's not that I don't like seeing people who are really polished and put together. But I'm more excited by things that are a little bit breaking apart as you're watching them.

I don't want the baggage of knowing things when I walk on to a set. I am more comfortable being an empty slate, surrendering before a director and writer's vision. I've realised that this is the best way for me to function.

My records are one thing. My live performances are something totally different because they're very improvised performances.

I don't break my head while working on a film or a show. The director is capable enough to bring out the best in all. So, why should I bother with anything?

The main thing with my shows is that I'm professional but not highly polished. I don't like people to think they're just seeing an album in person.

I think acting's very natural. It comes from a place of honesty, and if someone tries to teach you their way of doing it, that could be quite damaging.

We were so limited on time for 'No Burden' that we didn't get to overthink anything. There was no going for the perfect take, or even going for three takes. It was kind of nice because what you're hearing is our first impulse.

No matter where I go, I never write the setlist until I'm at the venue.

You can write anything you want to,--a six-act blank verse, symbolic tragedy or a vulgar short, short story. Just so that you write it with honesty and gusto, and do not try to make somebody believe that you are smarter than you are. What's the use? You can never be smarter than you are.

You've got to remember that improvisers are writers and actors and directors all simultaneously. That's what's happening in real time because you're writing on your feet, and you are acting out the words and you are directing what the staging is. You're deciding what staging is.

In my opinion, trying to guess what readers want is the wrong approach. You have to tell your story as best you can and as true to yourself as possible. You have to be honest and fair and vulnerable and foolish and brave, and not care what anyone thinks of it.

Do not set out to write with your eyes on the box office. It can't be done.

I have great faith in the actors. When they improvise, it always sounds better than the stuff I write in my bedroom. When they improvise, they make it sound alive.

My style is personal, my style of writing is personal, and I believe in that. I believe what comes out of me is an individual thing, and that's why I, I believe in the individual.

Never try to fit a target audience. Write what is true to the characters in their settings and the audience will find you.

A song is no song unless the circumstance is free and fine. If a singer sing from a sense of duty or from seeing no way to escape,I had rather have none. Those only can sleep who do not care to sleep; and those only write or speak best who do not too much respect the writing or the speaking.