Daniel Mays Quotes

I sometimes have to turn off the fan part of my brain when I'm acting; otherwise, it would be terrible.

The way that actors talk about acting is generally quite punishing, and I think actors want to put forward the idea that they do all of this work because, you know, it's a post-De Niro world, when, largely, in fact, it's almost never true.

When I work with actors, we try to tune the instrument so that you can feel things and allow those emotions to wash through you. You allow the fear to happen, and then you react and you listen without trying to get too absorbed into the actual end mark that you're supposed to hit.

It's more difficult for me to get into a character in the lead-up as opposed to leaving it.

A role needs a certain tone, so your own tone also changes. It's not like I lock myself up in a room to get into the zone. It is based on what I am feeling, because the minute you try too much, weird things happen. Of course, for an intense role you need some silence, and you need to do a lot of thinking.

I didn't have to audition. That's common, but it had never happened to me before. Normally, I hate auditioning. I need to stew and think... let the character develop and grow inside me.

So many actors get caught up in their technique, and to be honest, I see it really getting in the way. I see them forcing things. I definitely do my best work when I'm free of that. But I think as an actor, I work really hard in preparing the roles.

As an actor, you're lucky if you get a month before a project starts. There are times when you get a day before a project starts. So to be able to really sit and inhabit that mind and the story is really beneficial, and it really helps for me to be able to then compartmentalize as we're shooting and detach and go somewhere else.

When I was a younger actor, I would try to keep it serious all day. But I have found, later on, that the lighter I am about things when I'm going to do a big scene that's dramatic and takes a lot out of you, the better off I am when I come to it.

I do whatever I need to do to get into character. Sometimes it's being incredibly quiet, and sometimes it's being loose and goofy.

I think there's a lot of mythos about what's required in acting. The way that actors talk about acting is generally quite punishing, and I think actors want to put forward the idea that they do all of this work because, you know, it's a post-De Niro world, when, largely, in fact, it's almost never true.

Personally, I need to learn every word on the page before I go in and audition. I have not mastered the skill of holding pages in my hand and acting with pages in my hand. I find that every time I have to look at the page it takes me completely out of the scene.

I think that when you first read material or you first read a script or story and know you might be playing a part, it's important not to see yourself because it should be a challenge enough that it doesn't come easy.

If you're getting ready to do a really emotional scene then, right before it, you're probably not going to be outside playing basketball.

If I can keep it light in between scenes, then that helps me dig down further than if I try and stay at that constant place all day. That's just me. Every actor's got their thing. But that's what I do.

I don't think I've ever watched a movie to prepare for a role.

As an actor, I always like some tension, some distance, between me and the character I'm playing.

I'd love to be one of those guys who could be like, 'Yeah, it's really exhausting,' but the truth is I'm not method. I don't take roles home.

When you're acting, you do have to prepare yourself for doing that. You have to leave behind - or you try and leave behind - anything that's going on in your personal life.

I always hate it when I hear actors talking about the process of what they do, so I'll keep my thoughts to myself.

My wife says that stage acting is like being on a tightrope with no net, and being in the movies, there is a net - because you stop and go over it again. It's very technical and mechanical. On stage you're on your own.

For actors, you've gotta sometimes fill in your backstory.

With acting, I always feel conscious of what I'm doing.

When you're acting in a scene, you're focused on doing the scene. You can't break character and go, 'Oh my God, I love what you're doing!'

I never like to go out of character when filming starts. I fear that if I do, I might not be able to pick it up again.