Ray Walston Quotes

As far as the creative side, the more I do this, the more I know that it's all about the writing. We don't always celebrate that enough, but without the writing, you can't do much. You got on a film sometimes, and it's sort of half-written, and they expect and think that the actor's job is to bring the extra part and the good part. It's not.

I think the actor has two responsibilities. One is to be visually compelling, and the other to recite the lines as written by the writers.

I've made many films and only a few times I've played real people.

You can have good writing, but a great actor will make it feel and sound like great writing. You can have great writing, and mediocre actors will make it feel mediocre. Without the actors, you have nothing.

When you're in front of the camera, for a small budget or a big budget movie, there's no difference.

Good acting is all in the writing. If it isn't on the page, then it really won't make any difference. You cannot act on force of personality alone.

An actor has to embody a role.

We actors always say how difficult and physically demanding a role was. But give me a break, it's only a movie.

At the end of the day, it is about what you are doing in the film.

I don't play roles, I play characters. There is a vast difference between the two.

Theatre is the principal job of an actor. An actor's job is to tell a story to someone in a room. TV and film can be great and I really love doing it, but it is a different way of telling a story.

Sometimes the writing can be so good that the actor doesn't really have to do anything.

There were certain films where I went, 'Oh, my God, I'm doing a movie.'

There are a whole bunch of roles where people say, 'Oh, you're playing yourself.' I guess it's kind of a compliment. Or people say, 'Oh, man, you just roll out of bed and do that.' The work is to make it look effortless. That's the hard part.

I love actors. That's my bread and butter, and I got to work with some amazing ones on '12 Years'.

I'm an actor who plays an intriguing character, not a political pundit.

I cannot be a character in a bad movie. I can't be.

When on the set of a film, you have to play natural for entire scenes in a very unnatural environment. You have to express emotions and interact with other actors and also use your voice.

I think basically an actor is a salesman.

I did a lot of theater, so especially as an on-camera camera actor, there are so many things that aren't in your toolbox. They're somebody else's job. You think about editors and rhythm. Volume isn't even in your control.

Roles make the actor.

There is a temptation for an actor to editorialize what they're doing. And you can't do that with Pinter. It's almost like a musical score. His lines are so specific, but they can mean different things to different people, like an alternating current.

I'm an actor. I'll take a lead if it's offered. The really good actors can fill a character, no matter what the role is. A good leading man is a character actor; a good character actor can be a leading man.

When I'm in a movie, what I always do, instead of sitting in a trailer or watching a DVD, is I go on the set and watch the director work and the actors work, and sometimes I'll hang out with B camera and watch what they're up to and ask questions because there's so much to learn about the medium.

I just want the actors to put their faith in the language. Just let the words do the work.