Christian Bale Quotes

I don't really like 'acting' - I like things to feel as natural as possible.

When I act, I don't even know there's a camera there, don't care.

Encountering a real place enhances the performances of actors in subtle ways and changes the spiritual texture of the film.

I'm not asking actors to act. I'm asking them to behave. I want to see their being, not how they can fake it.

I think the best advice I got is that acting isn't acting - you just want to just be, you want to be just real, be in the moment and react.

I don't believe that you can give the same performance every take. It's physically impossible, so why bother? If you don't do what is happening at that moment, then it's not real. Then you're holding something back.

A lot of the people I'm working with are not actors, or it's their first time in a movie. I'm not trying to shape performances, coax performances out of them. It's more like I want to put them in situations that naturally work or allow them to be themselves. If it's not happening, I'll just completely switch it up, rather than trying to make it work.

I like shooting locations just because too much control on the stage can be a bad thing.

I just think the more you're in front of camera, the better: my main aim is just to tell the truth, be natural, and believe in what I'm doing, and hopefully that comes across as a rawness.

Acting is about being in the moment and audiences are smart to know what is authentic and what is not.

The best stuff - the most interesting stuff - usually happens when I allow myself to be in the moment and working from that space.

I want more unpredictability. I want more realism. I think the fans would appreciate that, and that's what I've brought since day one.

In America, they often don't know where I am from. The important point is the audience should not be able see through it. It should be so natural that your close friends may even think that you are not a great actor.

I just do my thing onstage - it's just what happens. No one, even if they're into the band, can know it's as natural and real as anything can be. I don't think about it.

I try to not to overanalyze, not to watch myself too much, but to be present in life and in my art. I'm so glad it comes off in that way.

It becomes very easy as an actor to immerse yourself when you're in the real places.

I have always avoided photographing in the studio. A woman does not spend her life sitting or standing in front of a seamless white paper background. Although it makes my life more complicated, I prefer to take my camera out into the street... and places that are out of bounds for photographers have always had a special attraction for me.

Great acting is all about being in the moment, being in the present tense.

We do not think of life - we live it. We do not think of ourselves too much. We do not think of others too much... We just behave in a natural way.

I have the confidence that I can take anybody and have them give a good performance, because I don't think there's anything to acting except expressing, being able to converse. So if I can just convince somebody not to clean themselves up, and not to be someone that they're not, and just be what they are in given circumstances, that's all that acting is to me, and I don't think it's very difficult.

You need to build an ability to just be yourself, and not be doing something.

If you try to act, you're going to look like you're acting. So don't act.

I'm keen to do as little or as much reading and watching as the director may advise, and often off that you kind of stem into other things that you find of influence, perhaps the things that you're watching. It's a good excuse to get to know a new profession, or a new approach, or a new era. It's about authenticity. It's about having the confidence to really feel that you're saturated and know the world you're about to step into and understand the person you're about to be.

My focus, my life, my world is now. You just can't plan the future.

I try to shoot the first rehearsal because people are more spontaneous. People in real life don't really know where they are going to be either positioning themselves or how they will be saying their words. When people goof during the first take, it usually looks realistic.