Sam Levinson Quotes

I'm still fighting really hard to get any role I get. If it's comedy, I go for the laughs. And if it's drama, I try to tell the truth, and try to play the real stakes of whatever scenario the character's in.

Well, usually when I finish one character, I'm looking for a role that's really different.

Starting with 'Thirteen,' my known technique is to cast the lead, then find someone with whom they have incredible chemistry.

When I got the audition for 'Big Little Lies,' I knew this project was going to be different than anything I'd ever done. That didn't change the way I approached the role.

When I'm reading a script and I see the word 'lumbering' I go, 'Oh, that's probably the part they want me to read for.'

As an actor, you tend to just look at the script till you get to your stuff.

If someone comes with an interesting script where the negative role suits me, I will definitely take it up.

I don't think I had a script on 'King Kong.' But usually you read a script and then you go and audition for it. It's rare when there's no script. I sort of like the latter better, because I'm more successful at it.

When I am rehearsing for a play, I try to read nothing that might distract my concentration from the work in progress.

As an actor, you want to do the best job possible, and you want the best scripts possible because it makes life more interesting.

I had done my first picture and I didn't have anything to do for awhile. I was asked to come back to New York and do Bus Stop in the role of the cowboy opposite Kim Stanley.

I always used to say, as a director, that I could make anybody good in a movie if you found the right part. It all comes down to casting.

To be an actor, a true actor, you have to be brokenhearted.

I've never committed to a role without a script.

When I attack a role, be it TV, film or stage, the first thing I say is, I don't want to know anything. If it's good I don't want to hear it; if it's bad I don't want to hear it. The only thing either thing can do is distract me. I like to stay focused.

I would love to play Bobby in 'Company.' Also, I would love to play George in 'Sunday.'

I love an acting challenge, and I love getting to sit down with my script and do all my drama work.

Obviously, I play a villain in 'Downton Abbey'. As an actor, you want to get a variety of roles, so to be offered the part of Joe, it was perfect.

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

As an actor, it's amazing to get to create different characters.

I work a lot; I love to compose, ponder, and take notes when preparing for a role. I cut all the scenes, collate the images, form the character and shape its personality, then I make meticulous notes and transcribe each scene on my notebook.

Creating a role is an interesting thing - each show or each situation is different.

As a director, it is important to understand the actor's process.

Whenever I am acting, it's everything, you know. If I'm researching a role, I'm completely consumed in that and, between action and cut, I live in this suspended time.

I was the last one to screen test for The Hardy Boys. I'd like to play that's not as clean-cut as Frank Hardy. I play him as straight as possible.