William Hurt Quotes

The thing is, as a film director, you're essentially alone: You have to tell a story primarily through pictures, and only you know the film you see in your head.

I do not use any set methods, not even The Method. The character after all is in the lines.

As an actor, our very palette is one of imagination. So it is a walk onto an empty space and then imagine the world beyond it is what we do.

All the films I do, I write the scripts, I direct.

I had to focus and create a character in Bagger Vance, not just do my 'Will Smith' thing and get paid.

Actors aren't stupid, mostly, and if there's a sensibility and an aesthetic that a director's going for, if you're aware of that too, you can do things to help that.

I think acting really helps as a director. It's just no question, because you totally understand the acting process.

With a film, I do my best to understand the author's intentions and try to bring the characters to life.

With Kubrick and most film directors, they are in complete control, but one can influence them.

The magic doesn't come from within the director's mind, it comes from within the hearts of the actors.

My greatest strength as an actor is that I follow my director's brief completely. The film is always the director's visual baby.

I love acting it's apart of me and I try to put a little bit of myself in each of my roles.

All actors bring something unexpected to the role because they have to translate what's on the page and make a real character out of the black-and-white text that's there in the script.

I'm a method actress in my songs, which is why it's hard to sing them.

Working with actors who are directors is magnificent. Because they understand the art form intimately, and they know exactly how everything works.

I have always believed that when a film is being made, it has to be the director's vision.

I've worked with Terrence Malick, Werner Herzog, Olive Stone and David Gordon Green, and Damien Chazelle on 'First Man.' When you have someone at the helm like that, they're gonna make something great.

People think a director teaches acting. But in good films a director doesn't.

You talk about auteur de cinema having things in their heads and putting them all across, can you imagine Shakespeare writing screenplays?

When you're an actor or any kind of artist, you use your life as something to draw from in every experience.

I try to allow the spirit of the character to live through me. That's the only way I know how to approach acting. I have to live it.

In many ways, acting is really like a science to me to figure out the human behavior of any character that I'm playing.

Of course, I love chats with various actors about the process and how they do it. To me, if it's not on the camera, if it's not there, it's not worth it. It really just isn't worth it.

I never thought of acting as a creative process. Christ, I used to go to the movies and see Brando talking like he was trying to sell shoes, and he was great. I thought anybody could do it. Then I tried it, and I got so uptight, I'm limited as to what I can do on film.

I've never so appreciated what actors do and how strange it is.