Michael Rooker Quotes

The best way to show an emotion is not through a character's words, but their smallest expressions - to take what an actor would visually do and try putting that down on the page for the reader to 'see.'

I think the love scenes are very powerful and they're not trying to simply show the bodies of the actors but trying to reflect the inner feelings of the character so it's easier in that way.

I felt that there could be some anger. There could be some frustration that he has the tendency to take over the room, but I wanted all of those things to show in the grays of her hair and the fact that her hips are much wider than they probably were when she met him. I wanted it to show in the fact that her hair is not done up all the time. I wanted it to be a part of that every day that wasn't in your face. Because then for me, that's overacting. To me, that's not "being." I wanted Rose [in "Fences"] to be many things.

In our animation we must show only the actions and reactions of a character, but we must picture also with the action. . . the feeling of those characters.

When you know psychologically what [characters] are feeling, then that plays out on how you dress a lot of times.

One of my favorite actors is Paul Newman. He could tell so much with a single look, whereas some actors would need an entire five page monologue to give off the feeling of what he could say with just a single look.

We tend to think of extremes of emotions as registering, for example, you have to cry or laugh or get angry. But for the most part, we find it difficult to read each other most of the time. If you walk through the street, most people are pretty difficult to read. But they're thinking inside.

Showing a videogame character terrified and scared is something that's not really done that much.

There are women to whom nature has granted the gift of silent emotion. They have mobile faces, changeful eyes, soft lips, which express joy or desolation naturally, and with the charm of perfect simplicity and truth.

I watched season four of 'The Wire.' They have subtle performances that they do through their eyes. You could watch season four with the audio off and still understand what's happening through their eyes.

I am not an angry guy. It's just the roles I do that impact my personality.

Breathing is always key in any character. When you have a character with no voice, that makes it even more important.

Emotions often must be portrayed from an inner feeling, of course, but I had a double advantage because I was learning to direct my as-yet expressionless feelings as well as gaining an ability to express emotion by a very conscious manipulation of my muscles.

I loved playing the part of the feisty Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker.

I wanted to be on the stage, doing very important emotional roles.

I guess maybe directors see a face that seems to have been lived in. I know that my face has been lived in, yeah.

The voice is a second face.

If you look at the character of Sadness, they really nailed my eyebrows.

It's a good challenge as an actor to express feelings without saying too many words.

There were a couple times with close-ups where I tended to overact. I would use more of my face than I needed to. I learned how to be more subtle.

I was really excited when films like 'Kaala Paani,' 'Maachis,' 'Chandni Bar' and others came my way. The sheer fact that I would get to portray various emotions was thrilling.

'Mercury' is one of the most challenging projects I have worked on. From the nuances of the actors' expressions to the minute technicals of the movie, everything needed to be monitored and looked into. The actors were required to emote purely with their face.

I found it liberating to sing on camera. On stage, you have to indicate having a thought, and the word you are singing must indicate it as well, but on camera, you can have ideas, you can take in all the stimuli that the character would be taking in, there's a freedom you get, and you don't have the obligation to transmit each idea to the back of the house. It felt so much closer to reality for me.

It's always an interesting challenge to see if you can create a character that's got emotion.

I love making people laugh, and to be able to be that humorous character was great. And I actually was very similar to Neville Longbottom. I was very shy and chubby-cheeked. I wasn't bullied at school, but I wasn't particularly outgoing. We were similar. And so I loved playing him.