Jake Epstein Quotes

This is going to sound cheesy, but with acting there are so many tools. When you're on camera, you're using all of it. You're using the voice, you're using your body, you're using wardrobe, all of it, but it's funny, once you take all of those things away, you realize how much you rely on the physicality.

The stage and working in front of a camera are two completely different mediums. Each requires different techniques.

In a theater, the part is mine and I can control it as I want to. In the movies, I don't have direct contact, and I am fighting technical machinery.

In theater, you have a rehearsal period and you know just who to be.

In theater, you get to rehearse several weeks, you memorize everything, and by the time you open, you know what the play is. In film, it's almost the opposite. You do your work on your own and maybe have a couple of minutes to rehearse. When the camera rolls, you generally don't know what's going to happen.

One of the things I'm always reminded of when I'm back on stage is how much you have to be aware of and in control of. There is no tight shot. There is no 'we're only shoulders-up this time.' No, from the top of your head to your pinky toe, you're telegraphing part of the story the entire time you're up there.

People who have never done theatre before, and have only worked in front of a camera, would find it very difficult, I think, to know how to command a stage and work with the logistics of being on stage. They're very different. The theatre is quite tricky, actually.

As an actor, you're always looking for, what do I get to do? It's not just what do I say, but what do I do, too.

I have always said that the biggest difference between stage and cinema is that one has got close-ups.

Theatre is the principal job of an actor. An actor's job is to tell a story to someone in a room. TV and film can be great and I really love doing it, but it is a different way of telling a story.

It has nothing to do with the emotional demands of a role; I've done comedies that are as draining to me as any drama.

I like a lot of takes. I just go on until the actors get it right.

Acting is real important to me. I love it, and it's something I care about.

With theatre, you have to be ready for anything.

When on the set of a film, you have to play natural for entire scenes in a very unnatural environment. You have to express emotions and interact with other actors and also use your voice.

I think basically an actor is a salesman.

Roles make the actor.

That's the difference between working on film and working in a play. In a play, you work on it, and you live in it and develop it and make it happen.

Got through it without fluffing, that's the main thing any actor can hope for.

I think most actors jump at the chance to do something where the camera's on them all the time.

There's something about doing theatre in London - it sinks a little bit deeper into your soul as an actor. It's something about the tradition of theatre, about performing on the West End stage.

The theater was my first training ground. It taught me discipline, dedication and appreciation of hard work.

The difference with doing a play is that you are in control. In film you are in the hands of the director and the editor and the producer.

I know from teaching that actors want to act. Even the subtlest actors can do a little too much.

Once you don't smile on film, they say, 'Let's have that bloke who doesn't smile.'