Denholm Elliott Quotes

Essentially, I'm untrained, so I just go with my imagination and try to put myself as solidly as I can into the shoes of whatever person I'm going to be playing.

I think back story can help guide your choices, but when you're playing a scene, you're not making choices; you're just intuitive.

I've always believed acting is an improvisational art form, even when not a single line is changed. I mean, the behavior should always be improvised. My favorite moments in any performance are when I'm just along for the ride; when I'm surprising myself. I know when I'm done and I think to myself, 'Gee, I didn't see that coming,' I've done well.

I think people who are regarded as better actors must have better instincts because, at the end of the day, once they say 'action,' it's you who has to do it right. You can do all the research and preparation or none at all, but it's your instincts that tell you, 'No, I'll do it like this.'

One was never taught how to begin at drama school. But all it required was one intake of breath.

When I rehearse, it ends up doing more harm than good. I think I work a little bit better when it's right off the bat. Mostly, I try to wrap my head around a role as much as I can without rehearsing and then kind of make it as fresh as possible on the day.

That's what sets apart one actor from another, and that you can't teach. You can't give someone that. When you're working, putting a character together, or in a scene, that's where things will happen that you have to have the intuition to notice them, and to register them.

Mostly I work really unconsciously, and I think if the scenes are really well written, which they are, and if I just throw myself into it, I don't really think about it.

I'm more interested in knowing my cues than my lines. If you know what your cues are, then you know what your reaction is going to be to them. Acting is about reacting, and if I can kind of purely react, that's easier for me.

I was a student of Stella Adler and then later Lee Strasberg, and they were into sensory work. At its best, acting is not about words - even when the words are important.

I don't know if I do anything to get into character: I just go with my gut.

I research every part thoroughly. I talk it out with my actor friends, but then I throw it all away when I get to the set. You have to be spontaneous.

As an actor, the only thing you have is your instinct and your imagination.

I don't have a process; I just feel it. My book on acting would be very short.

I think I'm a very intuitive actress.

You have to run, an awful lot, on instinct. Even on 'Veep,' it's not like you get weeks of rehearsal to break out what's going on in the scenes.

You can't really plan with acting!

I am a natural actor. I try to keep it spontaneous as far as possible. That is my mantra.

Acting has always been instinctive to me.

I don't prepare for any role. I go on the sets and do it.

Acting isn't something that I think about very consciously, somehow that just doesn't work for me. I just kind of feel my way into it.

I just feel my way through. If I had to give an acting class, I wouldn't know what to do.

I think that different actors go about their preparation differently, but when it comes to acting, I use my imagination.

I don't like improvising on camera, particularly, but very often, a scene will not be working, and you rehearse it once or twice, and you realize something's missing. So I'll play with it until it makes sense.

Well, I love acting, and I love acting quick.