Alfred Molina Quotes

I work primarily for the camera-it's not something I really talk about a lot, but it's part of the way I am as a movie actor. The camera is my girl, as it were.

I did a lot of theater, so especially as an on-camera camera actor, there are so many things that aren't in your toolbox. They're somebody else's job. You think about editors and rhythm. Volume isn't even in your control.

And in 'Frisco Kid' and in 'The Woman in Red' I had to ride badly. Then you have to really ride well in order to ride badly.

I enjoy working with actors so much and having the chance to be surprised by them.

When you go to set, they just go, 'OK, let's see what you guys do!' The camera moves around what you initially feel.

There's so much control of the audience's experience when you're on stage doing a play, whereas when working on camera, there's a lot of people that have to do a lot of things exactly right for anything that I do to matter at all.

I reach on the sets ready to be moulded by the director and give my best shot.

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

It's like playing tennis, you play a different rally with different people. Every actor is different and the chemistry between actors is different.

When you get to the point where you know the material so well and you know the character so well that you can just sort of play off of whoever your reader is - that's the best feeling at an audition.

There are a whole bunch of roles where people say, 'Oh, you're playing yourself.' I guess it's kind of a compliment. Or people say, 'Oh, man, you just roll out of bed and do that.' The work is to make it look effortless. That's the hard part.

It's sort of the most important thing for acting, is to listen to the person you're dealing with.

I love actors. That's my bread and butter, and I got to work with some amazing ones on '12 Years'.

I like the detail work of telling a story in small pieces, as is done in movie-making, and also the long leap of faith needed to see a theatre performance through each night. Both require focus and self-discipline.

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.

The art of acting is to pitch good. You do the pitching and hope that the other person catches the ball and does some good pitching back to you.

I love working with great actors.

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.

I'm an actor. I'll take a lead if it's offered. The really good actors can fill a character, no matter what the role is. A good leading man is a character actor; a good character actor can be a leading man.

It's easier to go from theatre to film than the other way round. In film you're absolutely loved and cossetted and cared for. In film your director makes your performance. In theatre you're carrying it all.

When you're in front of the camera, for a small budget or a big budget movie, there's no difference.

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

I look at actors very closely. It's not an accident when the actors excel.

That's how I like to do it with actors, have them really go for it and I'll tell them when it's too much. It's always easier to bring it back then to push it further.