Jake Gyllenhaal Quotes

It's a whole other way of working when you work in films: You know exactly the arc of your character.

I find it easier to play someone who is so far from me because you create someone - you build this person based on the story and the script, with the director.

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

One of my favorite experiences in my career, certainly one of the most interesting characters I've ever played, was Simon Lee on 'The Event.' That was a show I was quite proud of and a character I really enjoyed playing. It was one of the most three-dimensional characters that was ever written for me and that I'd ever gotten to play.

I've approached every character I've ever played with a poem, first and foremost.

Everything that I am going to do as an actress doesn't matter where it's coming from. It just has to be interesting.

I feel my job as an actor is to explore all sides of humanity.

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

It's your job as an actor to fill out the blanks. I love doing that. To fill in the bones.

I just love to be able to actually build a character.

Essentially, I never know what I'm going to do until I read the script, but a good story is a good story. I would like to do more modern stuff, but ultimately, it doesn't matter to me - good stories are timeless.

I usually don't find myself reacting to my characters. I just create them ... And let the audience decide whether they're empathetic or scared or compelled to cheer me on.

In the work that I normally do, you have a whole script, a whole arc, that you play. And I do believe a good actor will play every bit of information they're given.

When you have a book as material as it is, it's a lot easier to create a character because you have so many resources to draw upon when acting.

I'm more of a writer than an actor, and I used to say that I'm mostly an improviser, though I haven't improvised in awhile.

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

I am a really writer-oriented actor.

I've been interested in the writing/directing thing and really fell into acting by complete accident.

Acting is contained - you act for three months, then leave it - but writing is the act of creation. Writing is dangerous.

To try to create a character without a whole lot of information can be taxing. At the same time, it's fun to just stay on your toes and let the next bit of dialogue come in, and turn the page as you read the next script and see what they have in store for you next.

For me, when working on a film or play or television show, everything for me starts with the screenplay and I am devoted to that and that is what I work from. Any research I do or any preparation I do on my own is all ultimately in service of that.

I love acting. It's an interesting challenge to make something that doesn't exist appear like it's happening, and to do it in a real way.

As a child, I was fascinated by the stories of Dickens acting out everything in front of the mirror as he wrote it down. Later, when you approach his work as an actor, you notice how sayable the dialogue is.

I'm a director's actor; I'm a storyteller's actor.

It can certainly happen that characters in more sophisticated stories can 'take over' as they develop and change the author's original ideas. Well, it certainly happens to me at times.