Steven Knight Quotes

Good acting is consistency of performance.

I'm an actor's director. I love it when talented actors can bring characters to life.

I'm always looking, as an actor, for activities. I think it's far more interesting to watch what people do than what they say. You always want to watch behavior, because the dialogue as written by our illustrious leaders is great. Eminently playable.

As an actor, I'm always up for exploring and trying new things.

I can't say that I haven't done some bad acting in my time. I have. Usually that involves what we actors call 'indicating,' when you twirl your mustache.

The interesting thing about doing a play is to find a way to make it fresh and do it as though you were doing it for the first time.

As an actor, the only thing you have is your instinct and your imagination.

I ask all my actors to do two things: I ask them to fail for me, and I ask them to surprise me.

I want everyone to understand that as an actor you need to be able to play different roles, be versatile even in terms of your personality.

The whole process of acting is transformation. What is your power, quality and level of transformation, define you as an actor.

Theatre demands different muscles and different aspects of one's personality.

For any role, I pretty much always go to the script, first and foremost.

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

I think that different actors go about their preparation differently, but when it comes to acting, I use my imagination.

I'm always amazed when any actor can decipher my direction.

For the actors, the talent is to serve the demands that I ask of them, to do it with naturality and truth, and to be honest when we were terrified.

I like to stretch my acting muscles.

I think you can really tell a good actor if you can put a camera on them and they can just talk and emote and react and you don't have to keep cutting away from them, because they are the language and the behavior. It's all a tour-de-force performance.

As an actor, one's role is very much to respond and react to the situation within the context of the character and his world.

Everything, I think, about acting is based on imagination.

All actors do that. Should do that and do that. For the most part. I say all actors. I'm exaggerating, but you know who does and who doesn't. Vince is a wonderful young actor who knows his work and did a beautiful job on this film.

On paper, actors are the dumbest group of individuals essentially out there. Most of us have not gone to college. However, we never stop learning. Because of what we do, we're constantly researching, constantly learning.

Good acting is all in the writing. If it isn't on the page, then it really won't make any difference. You cannot act on force of personality alone.

I think the challenge for an actor is always to see which parts of you you can explore and go have fun with.

I think actors get too comfortable. I like being uncomfortable as an actor because it keeps you alive. I don't know, I think it's important.