Kevin Kline Quotes

My first acting lessons were Shakespeare. The first time I ever started working with a coach was doing scenes from 'Measure for Measure,' which were tough dramatic scenes. And then 'Taming of the Shrew,' which required comedic timing. And that's the kind of stuff I love.

On the acting side, they actually tell us to lie about things that we don't know and later scramble to learn. "Do you ride horses?" "Yes, I do." I think scrambling is the death of most of us in the industry.

One of the things that benefited me that anyone can learn is classical technique. That shows the orchestra that exists within the instrument.

It seems to me that most people are impressed with just three things: how fast you can play, how high you can play, and how loud you can play.

The actor must know that since he, himself, is the instrument, he must play on it to serve the character with the same effortless dexterity with which the violinist makes music on his. Just because he doesn't look like a violin is no reason to assume his techniques should be thought of as less difficult.

Sort of what you do in drama school when asked to play something way out of your reach. Anyway, we used to laugh a lot about that. I used to say I'm not going to act old, Penelope. I'll just be myself.

I'm not an actor who consciously accesses bits of my life, in order to play parts. Obviously, you don't need to have been a father to play one, otherwise everyone who's been a father would be able to act.

If there's one thing I feel very strongly about, it's that there shouldn't be a distinction between pianists who play Ligeti and those who play Chopin. It might seem that they involve different skill sets, but I don't think that's true: whether playing Ives or Bach or Beethoven, you must bring the same imagination, the same sensitivity, and an ability to deal with same kinds of musical problems. The method behind my madness, anyway, is to keep plugging away at this idea.

If you play men, in a way it's easier. You can have a voicebox, you can have false hair, mustaches, wigs, you can have all kinds of stuff. But when you're playing women playing men, you only really have yourself to work with, plus tiny little extras.

Theater is like going to the gym for actors.

[In "The Invisible Woman"] was a different type of performance which was less driven by improv. You always want moments of freshness and newness, but there was less so than I've done before.

I had the prosthetics on, and I went to my trailer, I looked in the mirror, and I smiled. And I was, like, "This is the character - everything she does is with a smile and a bit of glee and joy." And that's how I created Darla [from Buffy The Vampire Slayer]. Prior to that, I was, like, "I have no idea how to play this 400-year-old vampire from hell!".

You don't have to kill somebody to play a murderer. You have to read the script and interpret the character.

Learn your lines… plant your feet… look the other actor in the eye… say the words… mean them.

When you play a character with power and energy, people lock into that and go, "Oh, this must be the guy."

I wouldnt call acting a job - its a pleasure. I love getting to play different characters, getting to play dress up, and getting paid for it.

I don't see why people want new plays all the time. What would happen to concerts if people wanted new music all the time?

Acting is always sort of the same - like you want to be - you know you're pretending and you want to make it as real as you can. That's the similarity. The mediums other than that are completely different. I mean you know with camera work you're doing really small detailed work and you know if you do anything too big you've sort of failed. And with stage, especially with the play I'm doing right now, I'm doing a farce, and it's so over the top that you can't actually be too big. So it's just completely different.

I find that you can use an acting technique when the thing isn't working, not that you make the technique the end result of your work. You use the technique when you're in trouble and things aren't flowing the way they should. It's a way of fooling yourself to make it work again.

When becoming a character, you have to steal. Steal whatever you see. You can even steal from other actors' characterizations; but if you do, only steal from the best.

Take it from a director: if you get an actor that Sandy Meisner has trained, you've been blessed.

I'm not good at precise, coherent argument. But plays are suited to incoherent argument, put into the mouths of fallible people.

A silly comedy needs a straight guy, and that guy needs to be as straight as possible. The moment you start playing straight you're not straight anymore, you're bent straight, so it really requires the usual serious, straight-forward analysis and research, looking into it and finding the dramatic function, all of what you do until you feel you've collected enough points to safely and securely play the part.

I play a lot of characters where I don't even speak in my own voice. I learned about focus and I learned to trust that things can work when they're not heightened and that it's interesting when things are pared down.

It's not what you play, it's how you play it.