Alessandro Nivola Quotes

No actor who's any good can say truthfully to themselves, 'Yeah, I'm good; I've got this sorted.'

It's one of the things that looks good written down, but the reality is that you think about the pieces you're doing and try to bear in mind everyone in the audience.

People think memorizing lines is hard, when that's the last thing you worry about. You get that done, and then you've got to worry about the internal stuff, which is the challenging part.

I really miss the rehearsal process of theater.

If I start thinking, 'Is this movie going to open? Is this movie going to do well?' I'm not focusing on the job. The job is to make a good movie.

My acting coach I've got here, Richard Lawson, he's been doing good, just telling me to calm down sometimes and just be me.

I love to take actors to a place where they open a vein. That's the job. The key is that I make it safe for them to open the vein.

Comedians work great as actors because they're good under pressure. With a lot of actors, you have to make them feel like everything's going really well to get a good performance out of them. But, if you have a comedian on the set, you can tell them, 'Hey, you really are screwing this up,' and then they just get better.

I try to keep myself in what I'm doing and focused on character stuff, as opposed to getting wrapped up in worrying or being nervous. It won't benefit me, in any way, to focus on that.

You know, I've never been much of a method actor. I feel like, with every project I go in extremely prepared and I like to have a good time.

The actor becomes an emotional athlete. The process is painful - my personal life suffers.

I want to be uncomfortable - acting is uncomfortable.

When you work with actors, what you're hoping to absorb is good ways to be an actor as opposed to how to handle being famous.

When I rehearse, it ends up doing more harm than good. I think I work a little bit better when it's right off the bat. Mostly, I try to wrap my head around a role as much as I can without rehearsing and then kind of make it as fresh as possible on the day.

Every audition is different, but I get incredibly nervous and insecure and worked up for however long I have to prep - that's when I get to spin. But you're not allowed to spin once you enter the room. Doubt really can't enter the room when you're auditioning - unless it's part of the character.

I get nervous when I don't get nervous. If I'm nervous I know I'm going to have a good show.

To me, form is not about scoring runs but how you feel about your game. Sometimes the runs are not there, but you know you are batting well, and that is good form for me.

The first thing you have to get used to in any kind of acting is the ability to make a fool of yourself. If you haven't learnt how to make a fool of yourself, you shouldn't be on the boards. That's absolutely what it's all about.

Actors are always looking for actor-proof parts. A part so good you can't screw it up!

Some actors need to be rattled and some need to be focused.

I read the script for Wonder Boys, and I said that was almost perfect, it was so classy, cool and funny. It's a really specific thing. We stuck to it, it turned out good and a lot of people liked it.

I don't think actors get good training today. I put my training to use in everything I do.

Nothing makes an actor feel freer and more inventive and more creative than being trusted.

It doesn't matter what you feel - ultimately, it's what the audience feels. You can finish a scene and think to yourself, 'Oh, God. I was so deep in that moment,' and find it just didn't play. I don't know if I have very good radar about that or not.

A lot of good actors tend to be quite introverted as people.