Max Irons Quotes

I was terrorized by the emotional requirements of being an actor. Acting is like letting your pants down; you're exposed.

I'm an actor, I worry about everything.

It's weird how an actor can read a script and think 'it's really good, it's really funny, that's going to be really dramatic...' and then you get there and say: "Oh, I have to get in it? I have to get in the water?! Are you kidding?"

Everything about acting is a challenge. I'm self-conscious. You couldn't do anything to cause me to be more self-conscious than to stick a camera in my face and have 60 people standing behind it, waiting for me to perform.

If you're with someone you don't exactly trust then you have to watch yourself and that's the hardest thing for an actor not to do, and not listen to yourself as you're talking.

There are so many people pulling at me at one time - some want the business, some want my love, some just want my support, just to be there or to acknowledge them the same way I used to. To be able to figure that out is an ongoing process, because there's always another show, another album, another moment that I don't want to miss. But I'm pacing myself. I hope the powers that be keep me on a straight course.

The big challenge for me was just trying to ignore the embarrassment of being an actor. It's a pretty embarrassing thing to do. You've got people pointing cameras at you and hundreds of people watching you, as you're trying to be great. And often, almost every time, you're not.

There's a lot of idiots in Hollywood, a lot of people with no imagination, so as an actor you have to constantly re-show them what you can do.

I played a role. That is what actors do. But I played it too well. I went too far. And by the time I wanted to stop, to take a bow and leave the stage, it was too late.

The actor has the advantage - or the liability - of knowing, "It's going to be my face up there on the frickin' screen, so I better keep my wits about me. Nobody's going to care that I was bad because I was not happy. They're only going to know I'm bad."

It's always hard as an actor I think to be just on the set and have the kind of confidence to be like, 'Yeah, I did that. That went perfectly. That's great.' That's more confidence than I have.

Actresses are such very dull people off the stage. We are only delightful and brilliant when we are doing what we are told to do. Off stage we are awful chumps.

People say, "Why is it that you love to act?" And you want to say, "Well, most of acting is sitting in your trailer, either bored or worried about the scene coming up." A lot of it is about things you don't really like, so it's a wonder why acting is such a huge draw, why everyone loves it so much.

People tend to think when you're on dramatic films, that it's all so heavy, but it's really not when you're working with great actors.

As an actor, it's exhausting being someone else. It's not physically demanding, but it's mentally demanding, if you do the job the way you should.

I felt that people would criticize everything. I was so scared about playing Paris. I was very much aware that the greatest concerts my father and mother had done were there. I was sure people would be very tough.

To be honest, when I can feel that a lot of people are watching me, I get a little scared, but at the same time, it inspires me.

It's difficult enough for a young person to put his soul on the line in front of a lot of drunken people without having that hanging over his head, too.

Marlon once said to me about being an actor: Can you imagine going to work every day and pretending to be someone else?

You really can't please people. I know everybody's attention is on what I'm doing on the floor.

I've never been able to read for anything, and every time I have, I've never gotten the part. And I don't know why that is. I just can't. Reading or auditioning for something... It's like it's this mental block in my brain, and I just can't do it. But when people ask you to do stuff without making you go through that, it's a much more pleasant experience.

I think all actors have a sadomasochistic streak, because acting is kind of brutal, you know.

As an actor, that's nerve-wracking enough [drunk and doing coke] because you have to do it at the right level.

Comedy is frightening at first because you're opening yourself up. When it's just you and people hate it, you're like, "Oh God. Do they hate me?"

The best type of government comes from a government that is scrutinized by the people when they have true information about our governments, major corporations, other power actors in society.