Thelma Schoonmaker Quotes

If the script's good, everything you need is in there. I just try and feel it, and do it honestly. I also don't learn things for auditions, because I feel like it's just a test of memorizing rather than being real. Maybe every other actor would think that was terrible, I don't know. But it seems to have worked for me, so far.

The day before I work, I don't like to even look at the script and let whatever happens happen on the set. But I do prepare a lot. I'm a big believer in that.

I just arrive, they hand me a script and say, do it.

Once I'm on set, the only thing I'm really interested in is being in the room. Being present. And trusting that what I've done is sufficient, and I'm also trusting that I've also left room for magic.

I'm just always learning lines. I've learned to flag the really crucial scenes, and I start figuring them out and committing them to memory as soon as I get them.

I think that sometimes in theater, I don't prepare much beyond going to the rehearsals.

It's fun finding your way to the performance instead of coming in and hoping to God you're impressing the director - and hoping you're delivering the lines right with no treatment beforehand.

I'm not one of those actresses that asks what's going to happen. I've never been. I just take the scripts, and I see what's given to me, and I go with it that way.

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.

I rehearse my script with my co-actors and take their tips quite seriously.

Although there was a screenplay, the actors never knew what questions I was going to ask them, and all of my character's voice-over narration and scenes were added after the fact.

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

One of the joys about acting is researching.

Now there are certain things you have to prepare - like dialect and special skills. But in the moment, interaction between two characters on the page doesn't need - for me, I don't need to prepare that.

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.

Acting is what happens on the way.

I try not to think about any of the production side of things. If you do, you tend to get unfocused and distracted. I just try to think about the character and the scene and what I'm doing.

Everything you do on set is directly related to your imagination when you read the script for the first time.

To have an opportunity to get in front of a camera every single day is just priceless because it gets you closer and closer to being less self-consciousness in front of it and really being human and really making choices and standing by them.

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.'

You try to get to know your character as best as you can before you start filming - what's written and not written.

As for doing more dramatic work over comedy, I do whatever turns me on at the moment.

I'm attracted to roles that are unpredictable, and if I can get my hands on something like that, I'm thrilled. I like performances where you don't know what's coming, moment to moment.