Michael Stuhlbarg Quotes

When I research a role it does get a little crazy and maybe even a little stupid.

I don't prepare for my roles. I don't watch movies to get inspired. I don't dig deep. I'll never be that type of actor, and I doubt that I ever will be.

I never do any research for my roles.

It kind of varies. I don’t have a method yet. It depends on the script and the character I think I need. I’ve worked with acting coaches, researched roles, and channeled different parts of myself. It’s on a case-by-case for me, right now.

Creating a character and living truthfully through her is a whole different ball game. It's all part of the same person but it's a much newer medium for me.

I started to see acting as a real science. That really helped me grow as an actor.

I don't really prepare for each role the same way.

Part of an actor's job is to find correlations between your own life and the life of the person you are playing.

Actors are investigators.

I find all of my performances come down to mathematics in a sense - how do you approach the problem of this character? Sometimes I crack that problem, sometimes I don't.

I think people are always trying to demystify whatever acting is, so they want to know what your method is.

Talking to actors is the same as talking to any other artists; it's getting into the moment for them, and making sure they can lose themselves in the performance!

I don't personally look to my own life experiences for answers about how to play a scene.

I'm a task-oriented actor. A pretender. And I try to invent my process anew each time I make a new project. So I frown on any method.

I like to rehearse. We did a lot of rehearsals for 'Moneyball,' but it is really individual to the actor. It's not like, 'Here is my process, everybody. Fit in.'

I have a journal, and every character that I play, I write as the character: how I feel about things and how I'm going to play it.

I learn the techniques and then take what I need. I have the Essie Davis technique of acting. I'm an instinctive actress.

I'm not a Method actress. I work in the present, the day-to-day.

When I'm given a role, I'm consumed by a passion to bring to life a character that exists only on paper. I mull over the character for days and internalise his feelings.

My favorite thing about acting is being alone and going through the scripts and working on it and getting ideas and asking myself questions, looking outside myself for them and researching and getting to the bottom of something and being creative with it as an actor and how to express it in a creative fashion. That's my favorite part. And, the actual acting of it.

So many actors get caught up in their technique, and to be honest, I see it really getting in the way. I see them forcing things. I definitely do my best work when I'm free of that. But I think as an actor, I work really hard in preparing the roles. I spend like 90 percent of my waking moments walking around thinking: "What does this character do? What is his relationship with so-and-so?" Always, really. Too much!

As an actor, I've learned to become a detective. You have to figure out who that person is. If the character is a thief, you have to figure out what makes them a thief. Whatever the prevailing idiosyncrasy is, I have to find it in the script.

I'm the sort of actor who likes to talk about what we're going to do.

I don't really prepare for roles. I just kind of do them!

I think that different actors go about their preparation differently, but when it comes to acting, I use my imagination.