John Cameron Mitchell Quotes

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

I don't really prepare for roles. I just kind of do them!

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

As a filmmaker I find it much more rewarding to work with actors who are classically trained. It's about the work and only the work.

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

I do my independent stuff where it's real acting if you like. Intense, drama stuff. I love me actions.

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.

I've probably had my best time acting - or not acting, or trying to not act - on things like 'The Low Down' or 'Treacle Jr.' I'm happiest doing things like that. Not just because they're lead roles, but because there's more freedom in them.

The actors I admire are character actors.

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 prepare for each role the same way.

I like to try to change things up a bit in the way that actors such as Philip Seymour Hoffman or Michael Fassbender did and do.

For me, acting is a series of impressions rather than trying to find one line through to the end, which risks becoming more of a presentation.

Acting is kind of difficult to intellectualize - it's a far more visceral experience. It's really hard to be able to think about and then employ these kind of esoteric notions of this person's backstory and try to weave it in somehow. It's just kind of impossible.

There are a lot of actors who will sit here and talk to you about characters - 'He does this, and she's a really interesting character because she does this.' I'm not like that at all. I'm not an actory actor.

Every role is challenging in its own way, but the most challenging roles are the ones that are badly written - then it's completely up to you to come up with something that is interesting to the story and myself as an actor.

Actors are responsible to the people we play.

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

Part of an actor's job is to draw up a back story.

I've learned by watching films that inspired me and people who inspired me like Robert Redford and Paul Newman. I love old school acting. I love subtlety, and I also love being spontaneous, and that's really what works for me.

I really take acting seriously.

A lot of actors and actresses pull from past experiences.

When you get to set, you don't try to play the plot; you just play the character.

We are actors. We can adapt to any different look for the sake of the story and the character.

It was very difficult acting. I feel it is a very tough job to portray someone else's character and to behave like that on screen.