Michael Shannon Quotes

Acting isn't really a creative profession. It's an interpretative one.

With Sleater-Kinney, we did a lot of improvisation in our live shows, and even our process of songwriting involved bringing in disparate parts and putting them together to form something cohesive.

I think that the process of making music is a hard one to describe as well.

People might think writing is a hard business, but it's nowhere near acting.

I like to originate new roles and characters for musical theater.

Anybody who thinks pop music's easy should try to make a pop single and find out that it isn't.

I'm an artist. I produce, I direct, and all of that goes into the music.

I don't think acting's difficult. It's not like learning to walk on your hands.

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

Acting isn't that hard, really. I mean, I think that people make a big deal about it, but you just kind of try to say your lines naturally.

When I sit down to write a song, it's a kind of improvisation, but I formalize it a bit to get it into the studio, and when I step up to a microphone, I have a vague idea of what I'm about to do.

I write my music.

By the time I got to the Fox studio for my first major film, I knew how to hit a mark. I knew how to memorize lines. I knew how to pay attention.

Part of the fun of acting is the research, finding out about other people.

Writing music is not so much inspiration as hard work.

An artist can go paint, and a writer can go write, but an actor needs to get hired, needs somebody to say, 'Here, come and do this,' That's the hard part.

Unlike motor sport, I didn't get into music for the live performances. I like writing and studio work and seeing how a song can come to life.

Music runs through everything I do - I even think musically; even when I was acting, but, especially, when I am directing. Directing is very musical.

There is a lot of work just in terms of traveling and logistics and people and gear and all that kind of stuff. But I never really have problems playing music. That never seems like work.

With acting, when you're reading a script, you're regurgitating someone else's words. There's a whole part of your brain that's off duty.

Acting is not glamorous. It's not. Anybody who wants to get into acting for the glamour is in for a hard time.

Working with actors is something I've never done before. I find it tremendous. It's hard work.

'Evita' was four pieces of slick paper and a record album. It's the most scary, to sit down and dictate a musical scene by scene. It was a musical unlike anything I'd ever seen before myself.

The way I choose parts is I look at the scripts... I choose a part by whether or not it challenges me.

With film, it's all about the actor being able to feel the things that the character's feeling. It must do some strange things to your mind. Music I find much easier because you're being honest about where you are as a person.