Anthony Mackie Quotes

I never went to acting school, so improv was my training. Just being quick on your feet helps in everyday life.

Working with animals forces an actor to work harder because you have to be quick when it comes to improvisation, and you can't break character - at all.

I don't think I'm sharp enough to not prepare and come on set and kill it.

You have to be on your game with a live audience because anything can change.

I end up improvising in almost everything to some degree, 'cause it's often necessary on movies. The script is one thing, and it's this kind of theory of what you're going to do, and then you get there on the day and you realize, "Oh, the script is not appropriate to this room, the door's over here."

To succeed, planning alone is insufficient. One must improvise as well.

Well, I love acting, and I love acting quick.

The stage and the live crowd taught me to think on my feet, to improvise.

Onstage, there's no hiding; you either can or can't act. There's no second take.

With theater, you have to really be able to listen and to respond to other people on stage. You're all constantly on your toes. And then with film and television, you can get a second take and things like that.

There is no facet of my professional life that doesn't require or request improvisation.

Believe it or not, I write on stage. I can't write anywhere else; I have to be in a moment. I also have to challenge myself to make something funny out of a premise. I never have my own jokes written. I have to change things as I go along, and I have to entertain myself.

Live TV has an amazing pace to it. You've got to be able to think quick, make changes last minute, and be funny and fast.

I'm not a good improv-er, which is what a lot of comedic actors are really good at. I have failed miserably when I've been asked to improvise.

It comes down to the difference between what you were planning to do and what life throws at you and you have to end up doing. The one who knows how to improvise is the one who comes out ahead.

Because I started my career in improv, performing with Second City and the Ace Trucking Company, I always enjoy being in situations where - as an actor - you have to think fast & be light on your feet.

Keerthy Suresh knows how to improvise and reworks her expression on the spot.

I love to think on my feet, and I love to be able to feel from a close proximity how things are going.

Life is improvisation. All of those [improv] classes were like church to me. The training had seeped into me and changed who I am.

When we got to the part where we had to improvise an argument in a poetic language, I got cold feet. "I can't do this," I said. "I don't know what to say." "Say anything," he said. "You can't make a mistake when you improvise." "What if I mess it up? What if I screw up the rhythm?" "You can't," he said. "It's like drumming. If you miss a beat, you create another." In this simple exchange, Sam taught me the secret of improvisation, one that I have accessed my whole life.

I love improv-ing, you know, from very early on when I started acting the school that I went to and everything was very big on ad-libbing and improv-ing and messing things up, so I feel very comfortable doing stuff like that.

If you don't know an answer, a fact, a statistic - make it up on the spot.

I memorize my lines and I show up. I think it's just instinctual, and sometimes it's wrong and the director says, "No, do it this way." And then I can change, because I didn't spend all night practicing it this one way. All I do to get ready for the day is the night before, I read my lines once or twice, memorize them, and then I show up.

If you write something wrong enough, I'll be glad to make up a new witticism just for you.

I don't think fast enough on my feet in terms of the writing to change the script too much when I'm shooting it. I like to have it set and done and know that I feel good about it and I might add a few lines here and there while we're shooting, if I think of a new joke, I might toss it in, but for the most part, I try to stick to the written script and have all the latitude exist within that.