Leonardo DiCaprio Quotes

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

I'm not one of those actors who sits around the table and intellectualizing anything, or discusses much of anything. Everything for me is intuitive and instinctive.

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.

Mistrust first impulses; they are nearly always good.

A lot of the stuff you do as an actor - or I do, because I can't speak for everyone - is not always consciously thought out. A lot of the time, for me, it's actually just feeling stuff, and it happens all in the moment and your body reacts.

Acting to me is always reacting.

I never think about the play or visualize anything. I do what comes to me at that moment. Instinct. It has always been that way.

I have no 'dream role.' It just comes to me; it's very intuitive, and I say, 'OK, I have to do this now.' It's not logical; just, 'I have to jump into this very strange character,' or something like that. I can't even explain it.

I generally won't do a role unless I feel like it's in my system somewhere, even if it's just a molecule of it. Like I just felt like I knew it and if I talked about it or discussed it or tried to rehearse it that it would take away the energy from that scene so I went in there and just did 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.

Sometimes I'll read things in the script and think, "That's not how humans behave," or "I don't understand how to do that role and make it seem like I'm not some kind of strange alien or on a sitcom." I don't get it, and when I feel that way, I have to listen to my instinct. My initial instinct does lead me in a direction that I can trust.

Acting is really instinctual and I think you can overanalyse what you're doing. A lot of it has to be based on instinct.

Art does not come from thinking but from responding.

It's obvious that I must explain what I want from an actor, but I don't want to discuss everything I ask him to do, because often my requests are completely instinctive and there are things I can't explain. It's like painting: You don't know why you use pink instead of blue. You simply feel that's how it should be - pink. Then the phone rings and you answer it. When you come back, you don't want pink anymore and you use blue - without knowing why. You can't help it; that's just the way it is.

Creating a character and living truthfully through her is a whole different ball game. It's all part of the same person but it's a much newer medium for me.

I veer away from trying to understand why I act. I just know I need to do it.

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

I just go with my gut.

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.

I act on impulse and I go with my instincts.

Everything I do in my life is very instinctual and in the moment. If I'm attracted to something, that's it. If I have reservations, those don't change till they're resolved. My first impression is how I go.

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.

When I am shooting a film I never think of how I want to shoot something; I simply shoot it.

Everyone seems to think they know what acting techniques are. Techniques just help you get to a certain place, but if the thing is happening just by itself, you don't need those techniques.

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.