River Phoenix Quotes

Make them laugh, make them cry, and hack to laughter. What do people go to the theatre for? An emotional exercise. I am a servant of the people. I have never forgotten that.

Action is drama. If we cannot make the audience laugh, smile or cry with us, we are not actors.

More than an actor, I am a performer... I'm a great believer - honestly so, shamelessly so, vulgarly so - that cinema is for entertainment. If you want to send messages, there's the postal service.

I grew up when I was 15 when I had my first opportunity in movies. I watched every great movie for a year and a half, and since then I've asked myself how I can emulate such artistry. That's really my motivation. I want to do something as good as my heroes have done.

A great byproduct of a TV show, movie, or play is when it can act as a catalyst for someone.

Don't forget there are two sides to performing. Finding the truth, but you also have to be transparent enough for the audience to see it. How many times have you seen a performance and thought: 'Well, it seems to be meaning a great deal to you but it ain't coming across to me?' It is to be shared.

I think Hollywood is an incredible tool to teach people. It brings stories and information to the television screen, to the movie theater screens, that people get to empathize with.

I guess the dream would be to do movies, and keep people updated with my videos.

I always wanted to act. To be with my friends. To share something with the audience about the human condition.

I love to be in the entertainment space, and my aim is to create new content and entertain people, whether it's in movies or on TV.

Acting and singing are actually very similar because they're both telling a story.

It's communication - that's what theatre is all about.

I love to entertain, I love to make people laugh, cry, and move them, perhaps moving them in their lives.

I don't usually watch a lot of TV, but 'Mad Men' changed my perspective. I admire Matthew Weiner who came up with the idea and wrote such a great TV series, and the broadcasting company for being bold enough to air such a series.

I do this acting thing mostly for myself. I like to make a connection and communicate with the audience to make myself feel less lonely. I also do it to develop my own character, so sometimes I do it to just be away in a certain area that I've never been to. But mostly, the story has to do something for me.

If you are writing a story and trying to draw an audience to come and hear you tell it, it's got to in some way relate to them. Who wants to come and hear about your specific problems? It's not therapy - it's supposed to be a communal piece of entertainment.

Movies have power. Power to impact society and the choices we make. I want to entertain, but I also want to say something to the world.

I want to move people, stir something within them that makes them feel. That's what a movie should do and an actor should do, make you feel something. I think that's why people love films so much.

Yeah... I like films, I like movies, I like playing different characters and working with different actors and filming in different places. I like movies because it's kind of a combination of every art: it's like, it's picture, it's story, it's music, it's kind of like a clash and a collide of every art. It's really neat.

Acting is the most communicative thing I can imagine doing.

The main objective of our cinema is to entertain. If you can pass on a message at the same time, that is fantastic, but if the audience does not feel they are going to be entertained by the film, they are not going to watch it. There are many examples of very responsible and great films that are being made, but nobody goes to watch them.

I am not interested in entertaining people. I think being an actor provides an opportunity to give people an experience they can connect to, reflect on, learn from, laugh at.

You don't know what someone's going to walk away from a movie with, but you hope it's something positive, but if nothing, you want them most basically to be entertained and engaged. That's your job. But you also hope to give them something to chew on or maybe some insight into the human existence, you hope a little bit. Not to sound too lofty.

I really think that movies are the most popular form of story telling ever and have such a huge impact on culture when they do. So I really want to be a part of those movies that say something good to a lot of people.

I think the thing that is meaningful is when I can tell that someone's been affected by the movie or by anything I made.