Andrew Haigh Quotes

Ultimately, the idea of acting is to understand the people you're playing, and then where they're coming from is not so mystifying. You've got to detox a bit after, though.

I don't really prepare for each role the same way.

First of all, the actor needs to get out of the character's way. You follow the character without judgment or prejudice or preconceived ideas.

Everything I've ever learned about acting - and I went to theater school - was about playing what the character wants and throwing yourself fully into going after what the character wants.

You have to sort of see the way that the character behaves, and what the character says and does, and claim it in the same way that you claim anything, really.

What happens with every role, you have to trick yourself, you have to creatively find ways to explore the mental state of your character.

I wouldn't say I'm a Method actor, but I do try to focus very deeply on what character I'm playing, and everything else goes out the window. I forget about everything. I try to get everything else out of my head.

I wouldn't say I'm a Method actor, but there are times where a role will require you to live in their world.

I never really absorbed myself in a role like some actors do.

I like to prepare for my roles well, so you can call me a method actor to an extent.

I don't prepare for my characters.

With any character you portray, you can never play the end in the beginning. You have to pursue and attack your intention as if they're going to be successful.

I think that different actors go about their preparation differently, but when it comes to acting, I use my imagination.

I try to think what the character is thinking. Then, hopefully, I begin to feel it. I act and react not because I'm recalling a dog killed by a fire engine, but because I'm concentrating on what the character is going through.

I guess I'm probably a Method actor; I don't know... I just think of it as staying in the zone.

So much of movie acting is in the lighting. And in loving your characters. I try to know them, and with that intimacy comes love. And now, I love Voldemort.

I had an acting teacher tell me once that if you're playing a car salesman, you don't want to be an OK car salesman, you want to play the best car salesman.

In acting class, teachers talk about how the 'givens' of a situation help define a character.

I do not use any set methods, not even The Method. The character after all is in the lines.

I'm not the kind of actor that would know what my character had for breakfast last Tuesday.

Good acting comes from finding the essence of a character.

Claude Rains was what we call an actor's actor. He was very involved with himself and his performance.

My mentor Jon Simmons introduced me to the Stanislavski system, which is so heavy on back-story. So you write and write and write these back stories about a character and then you throw it away. So then on set, if it doesn't come, then you didn't do your work.

I don't really ever think about whether or not I like the characters I'm playing. I'm more into the minutiae of their behaviour or what they're doing in a certain scene.

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