Nick Nolte Quotes

You can have good writing, but a great actor will make it feel and sound like great writing. You can have great writing, and mediocre actors will make it feel mediocre. Without the actors, you have nothing.

I just want the actors to put their faith in the language. Just let the words do the work.

Sometimes you can just hear the actor in the language.

When you see something that is well-written, the actors can get behind it.

Good acting is all in the writing. If it isn't on the page, then it really won't make any difference. You cannot act on force of personality alone.

Every actor just wants good writing.

A good part's a good part. You can play serious and funny moments with a well-written role.

There is a temptation for an actor to editorialize what they're doing. And you can't do that with Pinter. It's almost like a musical score. His lines are so specific, but they can mean different things to different people, like an alternating current.

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.

An actor has to embody a role.

The greatest gift that an actor can have is good scripts because then you're relieved of the responsibility of trying to elevate the material.

The play is not in the words, it's in you!

Quite often in acting, you have to play a certain part; you cannot speak as much as you want to speak.

I love a mask. It's why I've got a thing about good writing. When you're acting, you're going into someone else's work. You're behind his words; it's not you.

Modelling is only about the look. In acting, it's the feel that matters.

It's a lot easier to act when the writing is good. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to figure out 'Well, why did I say this next?'

Acting is very immediate.

I really think that as good of a job as you do as a writer, you're absolutely indebted to the actors that have to deliver that material.

The role of an actor is to make every character believable.

I've always felt that to deliver a song successfully, you have to be an actress. A good actress becomes the part, just as a good singer becomes the song.

Drama is more focused, and it reveals itself to you, whereas comedy is just right there when you first read it.

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.

Actors know one thing: If you're left just with words, you're in trouble.

A lot of actors, we aren't that special; you get a well-written scene, and it's virtually actor-proof.

It's one thing to know your lines, another to be able to deliver them. The taste of the pudding is in the delivery.