Matt Besser Quotes

It's sort of the most important thing for acting, is to listen to the person you're dealing with.

I walk into a scene, and I do the scene. That's my job. I don't have an objective. I have the words, and I have whoever I'm playing with.

The art of acting is to pitch good. You do the pitching and hope that the other person catches the ball and does some good pitching back to you.

Acting is the most communicative thing I can imagine doing.

When people embrace character, there's latzie. It's the stuffing of a scene that's not written. It's not in the stage direction and it's not in the words. When people embrace character, it informs their living, breathing moments in a scene so well.

As soon as you get two actors in a room and they're locking eyes, they're doing a scene.

One of the exciting and enjoyable aspects of acting is being in the environment with another actor.

Actors have to make you believe that it's happening for the first time and all that jazz and make it human and at the same time entertain you.

So I just play the character, I play the lines.

As an actor, you can steer a scene in another direction by playing it a little differently. And honestly? I like being an actor, and I want to keep having a career.

If I do a scene with an actor who doesn't have much experience, I say, 'I tell you what we're going to do: You just listen to me, and then you respond. We don't have to do any acting.' And that's good advice because you shouldn't see the acting.

I enjoy acting when you really hit it right.

If two actors can communicate well during a scene, it works and makes for good chemistry.

When I discovered drama, I felt a connection.

Once you are in the character, you should let your inner actor take over you.

I am a natural actor. I try to keep it spontaneous as far as possible. That is my mantra.

In theater acting, you leave that night and what it was is what it was.

I never like to sit and discuss my character, the other character, our relationship, or anything like that. I feel like if I did my job and I trust that the other person has done theirs, you just go on set, play around with it, chew the scene for a little bit; then we roll, and that's it.

I'm a big fan of rehearsal. I'm famous for pulling the cast together, not so much to formally rehearse, but just to run the lines. My theory of acting is that it takes all your attention just to stay in the moment, and keep your attention on the other person, and get him to do what you want him to do.

As rewarding as a good film role can be, there is just nothing like getting up on a stage and taking an audience for a ride.

Fine-tuning a play like 'Uncle Vanya,' which is already well-known to the people playing it, is not so much a verbal exercise as it is a visceral one.

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

Theater is the most enriching and thrilling thing to do as an actor.

There is only so much you can do if you're pulling weight and there's nobody there to play off of. You can't have those beautiful moments with new actors who are so worried about everything else but the moment.

I think back story can help guide your choices, but when you're playing a scene, you're not making choices; you're just intuitive.