Gary Oldman Quotes

Acting has always been instinctive to me.

You know, I don't think you need to be educated to be a great actor.

I don't do any research. It's all about gut. Editing - it's always about gut.

Acting is one of those things that anybody can do because no one can learn it, but only a few people can really do because it's nothing you can learn.

One was never taught how to begin at drama school. But all it required was one intake of breath.

I think a lot of good actors - for instance, Gary Sinise - have no training. His training was really entirely on his feet. I suppose you have to have an instinct for it.

I don't have a process; I just feel it. My book on acting would be very short.

I've never been to acting classes or anything like that. Everything I do is quite instinctual.

Everything that I've ever made in my life is from my instinct.

One of the things that make actors good is their capacity to listen.

I think acting is something that is within you. It's a very natural thing for me. It comes from myself, really.

I act with my gut instincts.

I think there are actors who are like, 'Okay, what am I doing, how am I doing it, what's the appeal? Tell me what to do, what are the exact lines from the script? Okay, I got it.' I am not that way. I would be a terrible bus driver. I'd want to be like, 'Oh, let's take this side road! Let's see what happens when we go down this back alley.'

You have to just go with your imagination, where your instinct takes you.

I just throw it out and see what happens. If it sounds and feels right, then I continue.

My instinct is to absolutely recoil when talking about writing in a mechanistic way. Nothing could be dumber than writing a film or TV script based on prescriptions, on other peoples' ideas of what character should be.

Everything that I do is for sound goals. It comes from my gut. When I'm sitting in the studio, a mix isn't done till I feel it in my gut.

An actor should be able to create the universe in the palm of his hand.

I know intuitively when the work is right, no training can teach you this, it is simply a matter of feeling.

None of my books has been ever in my head; after they're finished, they go. It's like being a sort of medium; you just grab it when it's there then just release it when it's time to go. There's a lot of instinct, not planning.

I don't have any great detail or logic or exact point that I look for in a film. It's just if I get a good sense from it and I feel that there is something interesting that we may be able to do with it, then I just kind of go for it.

I never understood the realism of an imaginary circumstance. While I was doing 'Smoke Signals,' I relied on my instinct and what I grew up with. I had this energy, but it was a one-dimensional thing.

Don't think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It's self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can't try to do things. You simply must do things.

I used to do school plays. I never really took any acting classes. I'm just a natural ham, I guess.

I honestly can't characterize my style in words. It seems that whatever comes to me naturally, I play.