Prunella Scales Quotes

Some actors get by with behaving, not acting. You've got to sell the effect. I act more in the 'Nightmare' movies because it's not like me. I'm acting, not reacting.

I want to break into the acting industry. It's something I have a great deal of respect for; it's a passion of mine. It's so amazing, the differences between acting and being an athlete, but the one commonality is they both evoke emotion in the viewer. And those emotions are real. So I think that's pretty cool.

As I told you, from the time I was fifteen, I thought the theater was too much involved with actors trying to make the audience love them, being over emotional.

An actor is somebody who communicates someone else's words and emotions to an audience. It's not me. It's what writers want me to be.

It's about what happens on stage, whether we can deliver it in a hungry way that is who we are in our hearts.

Good actors, you always know what they're thinking. That's why they're good actors.

When you're performing, you're playing to the back row. With acting, you have to be more nuanced.

One of the things I'm always reminded of when I'm back on stage is how much you have to be aware of and in control of. There is no tight shot. There is no 'we're only shoulders-up this time.' No, from the top of your head to your pinky toe, you're telegraphing part of the story the entire time you're up there.

Obviously there are times with acting when exactly what is required is just going through the motions, and when doing nothing is the best thing. But at other times, you have to make that leap beyond the immediate environment of people putting up lights on the set.

The great actors are the luminous ones. They are the great conductors of the stage.

Sincerity and the correct use of the voice are the greatest things in the art of acting.

It's a fine line. If you withhold too much, you come across as wooden - as I've often been described in some movies. Fair enough. I believe that the best performances are the ones that an audience has to search for.

I think there is no better training than being onstage because here's the thing: the theater requires you to act with your whole body. I think acting with your whole body gives you a root, and you can build from there.

In theater, the primary tool for me was voice. On-screen, it's the eyes.

I realised how important it is to have your body movement, your diction, tonality, dialogue delivery and to be in rhythm because everything is musical.

Theatre is more metaphorical where you have to be louder and larger than life, whereas film is more subtle and more real.

If anything, I'm overacting in the ring because of the facials and the body language. I want the guy in the cheap seats to be able to see what I'm thinking, the expression on my face. But when you're filming a movie, it could be a two- or three-camera shot, and you're doing it over and over and over again. It's not live TV; it's a lot different.

When I watch an actress say a line, I watch how they deliver the lines with gestures.

One needs strong performance to put across a point in theatre.

If you start to disrespect the character you're playing, or play it too much for laughs, that can work for a sketch, it will sell some gags, but it's all technique. It's like watching a juggler - you can be impressed by it, but it's not going to touch you in any way.

I put a lot of time and energy and thought behind what I do and the characters that I create, and I don't want to do anything peripheral that is going to make an audience see me up there on the screen rather than who I'm playing.

The art of acting is to pitch good. You do the pitching and hope that the other person catches the ball and does some good pitching back to you.

I can never wink at the audience.

I was very conscious of the actor; watched what he did.

I don't have a favorite genre. I love to work and live vicariously through every character. It's all about trying to bring the character to life and get the story across in a way that resonates with the audience. It's always interesting and challenging in a gratifying and unique way.