Idris Elba Quotes

You know, I've never been much of a method actor. I feel like, with every project I go in extremely prepared and I like to have a good time.

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.

With any actor, if you know your character well enough, you'll know pretty much what he would say under any circumstance, or whatever situation might rear its head.

I don't prepare for my roles. I don't watch movies to get inspired. I don't dig deep. I'll never be that type of actor, and I doubt that I ever will be.

While you are improvising, you need to be prepared, and I like to have a sense of who the character is, what she likes to read, where she grew up, where we went to school, and what she has for breakfast, so that when I go to set, I'm free to explore.

Preparation is really important for actors; they need to know who they are, where they're from, and the experiences up to the point that we make the film.

The experience with 'The Knick' is a singular experience. That experience taught me a lot about acting and about being on camera for extended periods of time to try to create a character arc that travels.

I really learned how to act on camera through 'Power Rangers' because I hadn't done a lot of film and TV.

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 each role the same way.

Well you know, Woody doesn't rehearse, as opposed to my own method of directing where I really work with actors around a round table for weeks, examining the values of the material, so his technique is very different.

I think you get the most honest performances when an actor shows up to set with their lines memorized. That's a very important thing that a lot of people seem to forget. You have a pre-conceived notion of what you want the scene to be, but once you get there, that goes out the window and it turns out to be a way that you never imagined.

The thrill of acting is the discovery part, so it all changes, but it has to change in a way that fits what is written. You can't just wander off and get interested in your own tangent.

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

You make a decision whether you just work on the script and believe in every moment and pick out every moment, or if you sit down and memorize lines. Once you really dig into a script, learning lines becomes almost second nature.

There's pre-production, and the second part is when you start rehearsal. Pre-production was a very large learning curve for me.

I never do any research for my roles.

I was amazed by the kind of preparation Hollywood actors do for their roles.

I always ask the actors, 'What have you never done before?'

As an actor, you create a character from your understanding of what you have heard and your observations. Eventually, every film is an extension of the images that I have seen or what I have heard or read somewhere.

My preparation is mainly just knowing the lines and getting in and knowing where your character is, knowing what it's about and having ideas that you can put in on the day.

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

Film acting is really the trick of doing moments. You rarely do a take that lasts more than 20 seconds. You really earn your spurs acting onstage. I needed to do that for myself. I would hate to say at the end of everything that I never did a stage play.

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.