Alessandro Nivola Quotes

I'm not a Method actor. I don't believe acting should be psychodrama. I look within myself and see what I can find to play the role with. If I'm playing a blind man, I don't go around blindfolded for days. A lot of good actors would, but I don't go in for that very much. I like to just make it up as I go along.

There are two schools of thought: There are those actors who explain to you that they know exactly how they're going to do the part... And then there is the other method, which is to have no method at all. This is mine.

I do not use any set methods, not even The Method. The character after all is in the lines.

I don't like to intellectualize about my acting. I don't sit around and study the pages of a script over and over again.

I think people are always trying to demystify whatever acting is, so they want to know what your method is.

I don't personally look to my own life experiences for answers about how to play a scene.

I'm a task-oriented actor. A pretender. And I try to invent my process anew each time I make a new project. So I frown on any method.

I learn the techniques and then take what I need. I have the Essie Davis technique of acting. I'm an instinctive actress.

I never do any research for my roles.

I'm not a Method actress. I work in the present, the day-to-day.

I walked around my apartment with food in my mouth asking myself: "How do I come up with this voice?" Then I found the voice. I called the director and said on the phone: "Guess who you're talking to Chris? Sid, that's right Sid!" And that's how I came up with the voice. That's a true story.

I tried to copy some of his mannerisms at first but it didn't work. And then I just let the spirit of the character grow in me and it just took its rightful place. I started to speak the lines and it felt right.

When I do a character, I try to base it on someone I have met or an experience I've had.

I'm the sort of actor who likes to talk about what we're going to do.

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.

As a filmmaker I find it much more rewarding to work with actors who are classically trained. It's about the work and only the work.

I don't act in the way other actresses act, in terms of building or creating a character. I don't transform myself into the role, I invest myself in the role.

The thing about Brando was that I'd make these directions, and he'd walk away. He'd heard enough... to get the machine going.

It is hard sometimes to see how other actors are working when you are working with them.

For me, personality acting is not that interesting. I don't want to just be myself.

You know, I've never been much of a method actor. I feel like, with every project I go in extremely prepared and I like to have a good time.

I definitely think it exercises an interesting muscle, auditioning for bad parts and trying to figure out how to make it real. I don't know what I'm talking about now.

I'm not a method actor; I hope you know that!

I started to see acting as a real science. That really helped me grow as an actor.

I don't really prepare for each role the same way.