Samantha Morton Quotes

Before a match, I need to be alone. I need to reach concentration and focus on the game ahead of me.

I've always had a process that I do before I even get to set or go to the location. I work privately, and it almost feels like therapy between me and who I'm playing. So I have this inner life that's there and it gives me a confidence, too, that when I'm playing the role I know every question.

Actors, their greatest tool, their greatest resource is imagination. You can take things, power objects, you can recruit your dreams, you can access your memories and get there. So the idea is not to act but to just be.

I feel that once you go into rehearsal, you need to focus on the show in the room.

When I'm starting a race, I just completely narrow down my vision and focus on what's directly ahead of me.

By going over your day in imagination before you begin it, you can begin acting successfully at any moment.

Before a race, I block out what's going on in the stadium. It's different for everyone. But for me, I've always been able to block it out. For a sprint race, it's important not to get distracted.

I don't think about the press or the crowds or the other leaders of the race. The focus is only on myself. As soon as I see the targets, I tune them out.

If you're getting ready to do a really emotional scene then, right before it, you're probably not going to be outside playing basketball.

I think is very beneficial to relax yourself so that when you are doing it you are not staggering for lines and your concentration is not on what I am going to say - but the scene itself, the character that you are talking to.

You have to be sharp when the camera's rolling. I want to be totally unselfconscious, like a child playing. I do as much prep as possible so I can lose myself for those seconds.

I never don't know my lines. I never take the audition pages into the room. I end up relying on them or looking at them too much, and it makes me feel unprepared, so I always learn my lines without fail.

The only thing I want to think about the moments before a race is competing. I don't want the little things to distract me.

I don't get bored at all while acting.

I've tried to shut myself off as much as possible from the hype of 'War Horse,' and just thought, 'OK, I'm going to focus on the character and focus on the story and focus on what I have to do.'

I've taken thousands of shots in the corner. It's all mental. That's all it comes down to, is to be ready, wait for your opportunity, and execute.

I've always been quiet in the dressing room before the game. I try to focus and give everything.

I was worrying about how Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Johnson or Josh Hazlewood would get me out and how I would counter it, but in doing that forgot how I was going to score runs and put pressure on them, which is what I'm good at. I have to be more focussed on myself.

In order to make Alma innocent and open, I had to forget that I'm stressed as an actress because I'm making a film with Paul Thomas Anderson. I had to let go of everything and hold onto the text. The language was like a rope I could cling onto and make my way blindfolded through the shooting.

I like to take the floor apart mentally. I like to visualize an opponent going for you.

I just keep myself focused and try to prepare each week for our games.

From the neck up is where you win or lose the battle. It's the art of war. You have to lock yourself in and strategise your mindset. That's why boxers go to training camps: to shut down the noise and really zone in.

At the start of every game, you are focussed on the game you are playing, so you don't look back at previous games.

Feel the power of your legs, hear the orchestra playing, see the audience - anything to make the image more real. The image has to be specific. You can't just say to yourself, 'I'll do my best.' You have to have a mental blueprint of that role in your mind.

Thinking should be done beforehand and afterwards - never while actually taking a photograph.