Ivan Reitman Quotes

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.

The more and more I work with really great actors, the more it's about opening yourself up to what they bring.

I think all great actors - and I don't classify myself as one of them, incidentally - but I think all great actors listen well and I've learned that from a lot of the very good actors with whom I've worked - to really listen to what people say.

The key to acting - from what little I know about that wonderful craft - is listening, and interacting with the other person in order to achieve magic. One way to do that is almost to provoke.

The big secret in acting is listening to people.

Acting lessons teach you to really listen to what the other person is saying because in acting it's all about responding to the lines.

The most important part of acting is listening. So always act like you’re listening.

When I started out as an actor, I thought, Here's what I have to say; how shall I say it? I began to understand that what I do in the scene is not as important as what happens between me and the other person. And listening is what lets it happen. It's almost always the other person who causes you to say what you say next. You don't have to figure out how you'll say it. You have to listen so simply, so innocently, that the other person brings about a change in you that makes you say it and informs the way you say it.

It is hard sometimes to see how other actors are working when you are working with them.

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.

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.

Unfortunately, when you're an actor you have to act. It's not like you can sit in your living room, your bedroom, your study or whatever and act with yourself. It requires having somebody to respond to.

I'm a huge fan of actors, and I love when people find moments and a scene works. There's nothing more that I love than to go over to another actor and say, 'Yeah! You just rocked that one, baby!'

If you're working opposite an actor who can act, then all you have to do is listen and respond.

When you act with phenomenal actors, it makes your job much easier because all you have to do is react.

Acting is about reacting, and it's not easy to do that when you don't have a good co-star.

Acting, for me, is giving to your co-actors.

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

Robert De Niro taught me how to listen, and how to be part of the conversation. It's not just about reading your lines and saying what's in the script; you have to understand your character, along with the other characters so that you can always respond.

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

I just love the process of working with other actors.

Acting is doing, because everything you say or do is some kind of an action, some kind of a verb. You're always connected to the other person through some kind of action.

Acting to me is always reacting.

Acting is reacting, and it's always easier to react when someone is doing a good job.

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.