Michael Shannon Quotes

There are lots of people I'd like to work with. It would be fun to be in a movie with Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen.

And when I'm on set, I'm just thinking about the script and of working. I think I've stayed focused on the work so much that I haven't really noticed my life start to change except for I've gotten busier.

We're not going to pay attention to the silliness and the petty comments. And quite frankly, women have joined me in this effort, and so it's not about appearances. It's about effectiveness.

The truth is, I just love to work. I love being on set. I love being around crews. I love being around my fellow actors. Anything that can keep that going is a joy for me.

I love working fast. I don't relish the director who wants to do 25 to 30 takes, or the actors who insist on doing 25 or 30 takes.

I try not to have high expectations of people because it just sets you up for disappointment, but it's great to work with actors who are that talented and accomplished.

I think trust is the most important thing. If the actors and the director and the crew trust each other and you set up perimeters and boundaries, you give everyone space to do great work.

You have to think of them as your peers. You can't really - when you're on the course and looking up to anybody, you're saying, 'Wow, that's so and so,' that's when you get into trouble. For instance, if you're paired with them, then what do you do?

It amazes me how much noise there is on a set while people are trying to focus and do their jobs. But there's some kind of order within that chaos.

I think when you work with older actors, who are so good, it's rare that they are egotistical.

When you are working, I must tell you, if someone wants to talk to me, to 99.9% I say no.

I focus only on the work with my team-mates with Dortmund and Gabon.

It's always a problem with television and with films, you always shoot things out of sequence, so you just take your best stab at every moment. You can't really - you'll drive yourself crazy if you dwell on the negative aspects of it or your shortcomings.

I need noise and interruptions and irritation: irritation and discomfort are a great starter. The loneliness of doing it any other way would kill me.

It's very difficult to find the time or the money for people to organize rehearsals for some movies. It staggers me how little preparation often goes into these scenes which are difficult and complicated. You think, "God, it's crazy. I've never met this person before and here I am having to work at how to do a whole performance on the set." It was great to have a few days of just talking to Michael [Caine] and Daniel [Barber] and thinking about the characters and the relationship between them before we started shooting.

I focus on my work. If I let myself get distracted by the insults and slanders I wouldn't get anything substantive done.

I'm a theater actress and I thrive on working with other actors, and you can't be even a smidge bad, when you're acting with Charlie [Sheen]. He's just so natural, so present and so good that you have to step up to his level, or else.

Once a film gets into production, the actors sometimes begin to have more input than a writer does.

Movies are hard to make, and you have to work toward a common ethic and do your best. You don't want to work with people who don't care or who are acting out some neurotic, crazy thesis on the set.

Actors have to protect each other in a way. The idea of humiliating another actor or being humiliated myself is devastating.

Everyone has an opinion; the question is which opinions are actually relevant to your journey and which are just static in the air?

You always think, 'Oh, if only I had a little chalet in the mountains! How great that would be and I'd do all this writing' Except, no, I wouldn't. I'd do the same amount of writing I do now and the rest of the time I'd go stir crazy. If you're waiting for the perfect moment you'll never write a thing because it will never arrive. I have no routine. I have no foolproof anything. There's nothing foolproof.

After three days of shooting with Donald [ Sutherland], I was the only one he worked with for the first three days of the movie [The Winter Of Our Discontent] because of the crazy schedule. We [shot] a lot of this stuff, some of it incredibly intense and emotional. We had never had a conversation during that whole time. We didn't have time.

Working with them was a great experience. Victor Garber, Stephen McHattie and Ray Liotta - they were all bang-up.

The reason my films work is because every actor on set is very secure. They're able to fly.