Akshaye Khanna Quotes

It's not seeing myself 40 feet tall on a movie screen - it's the work. That's what thrills me.

With acting, there's a certain amount of independence you have within the framework of the storytelling. When it's done well, it's a collaborative medium.

I love filmmaking as a process and acting is one element that is dear to me.

I have only recently got interested in film, and it is a strange way of working in many ways. But actually, when it is at its best, it's quite an extraordinary way of working between a director and an actor, to really explore an inner life.

You know, the great thing about acting or, indeed, filmmaking in general, is that we're all given a reason to do research. You kind of have to, really, if you want to know what you're doing, but it opens up this whole new understanding.

You pick projects for the part, the director, and the script. I just want to do different, interesting stuff.

Acting is always at the core of my life, but I'm also excited about producing. I'm excited about directing, and I have a life in the filmmaking world, and so I want to explore all aspects of it, not just the acting, but acting is the root.

I'm glad I took the leap away from acting into going behind the camera because it's much more satisfying - I love acting and I still do, but it's much more satisfying to be able to make the stuff.

Directing is a unique endeavor where you are in charge of so many people. As a writer, it is sort of the opposite.

Writing and directing might be a red herring, and really I'm just re-examining what it is to act, to do it well and do it properly.

I'll still try to nail acting jobs, but with 'Eastbound,' creating it is what gives me the ultimate pleasure at the end of the day.

To this day I over prepare. I draw storyboards for every scene - chicken scratches so crude that they amuse and horrify the crew. I send out shot lists, act out the scenes, and search for a theme that I can relate to. It's my favorite time of the process.

Television and film acting is really fun because you are working with other people and you are not completely responsible for the outcome of the project.

One thing I'm passionate about is directing. I've always wanted to direct.

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

I love the process of working with a filmmaker and the writers and the actors.

Theatre is something that keeps me very alert, and I am actively creating whether I am on stage or directing. In films, I feel I become more of an introvert, going deeper in the realism of a character.

I'm a director's actor, and I surrender myself to the vision and the process. I think nothing else matters then.

Every time I get a role, or the opportunity to explore a role, I look at it, and I think, 'What is the story we're trying to tell here?'

That's what frees up an actor: when you don't have to be responsible to likability.

To be an actor, you have to be self-obsessed, but when you are a filmmaker, you get a macro view. Every aspect of making the film is under your purview. And for me, that is a bigger turn-on than just being an actress.

When I did my first film, I had a fair idea of what I liked and what I didn't while watching an actor in front of the camera. After I finished the film, I thought I had exhausted everything I knew. As I moved from one story, setting and character to another, I discovered something new.

Before I film a movie, I look at how the character will move and walk.

As theater artists, it's a great luxury to have time.

Even with college, the reason I wanted to go so badly is because I wanted to major in film. I want to take screenwriting classes and learn more about behind the scenes stuff, because I love people like Steve Carell and Kristen Wiig who are able to write a lot of their own material and be so involved in everything they do.