Scott Patterson Quotes

When I do the roles, when I'm in the room and auditioning, I'll ask the director if they're cool with me adding stuff, or just improvising while we're doing it. And I would say, like, 90 percent of the time, they say, 'Absolutely.'

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.

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

I didn't want to be stuck in Dickens period dramas because then I would never know if I was any good.

I like to stretch my acting muscles.

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

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.

I don't mind being identified as any character as long as I'm doing a good job as an actor. I have done all kinds of roles - from an editor, judge, police officer, murderer to a corrupt businessman.

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.

When you drop your guard in films, the acting process compensates. You get lazy and you start acting.

That's how I like to do it with actors, have them really go for it and I'll tell them when it's too much. It's always easier to bring it back then to push it further.

I'm so into playing different characters, even when I was on Nickelodeon. I just observe.

If I were to play somebody who ran a fish and chip shop, I would not work in a fish and chip shop for three months. Staring at chips is not going to help me in my performance.

If it seems like you're doing work when you're acting, then you're doing something wrong.

As an actor, I love working with directors. As much as I love working with other actors.

As an actor, you pay attention very closely to everything that happens to you, and you're constantly watching others as well, trying to just find out where everything comes from.

My approach to the work is the same, whether I had the lead or a supporting role. I consider myself a character actor in the true sense of the word. Unless I'm doing my autobiography, I'm playing a character.

On the stage you develop a character that's different from yourself. In a film they're always saying, 'Walk over here. Say this line. Be you.'

In acting, you have to pull from real-life situations, from people, to help develop a character.

I'm hoping I can evade a type and go for roles based on what I consider plausible and what I consider good.

You really have to take your time; you have to know your character and your scene. The line you are about to say comes from the moment right before. It's not what's said, it's what is in between the spaces, it's what's in between the lines; that is the most important to play.

Obviously there are times with acting when exactly what is required is just going through the motions, and when doing nothing is the best thing. But at other times, you have to make that leap beyond the immediate environment of people putting up lights on the set.

Auditioning and actually acting on a set are two different things. When you audition, you're in a room and you don't have anything to play with and you don't have anything physically in the room. Whereas on set, you have direction, you have costumes, and you have other actors to work with. It's a completely different thing.

Good acting is thinking in front of the camera. I just do that and apply a sense of humor to it. You have to trust the audience to get it.