James McAvoy Quotes

Some of the best actors in the world are very exterior actors, Anthony Hopkins being one of them. He knows exactly how to turn his face to get a certain expression. He knows exactly what to do with eyes, and with his voice. It's very exterior.

There are times when I consciously give the character something physical - a walk, the way he sits, how he talks, or his lack of physicality, which is like a physicality.

Acting is very physical, even when it doesn't appear to be. It's about the arc of your body's language through a film.

Connery made Bond real through his physicality. He did most of his own stunts and fights, and the audience knew it was him.

Let me make something clear: I can't do anything in particular to make others laugh. I do what is necessary for a character. The body language of the character may make others laugh.

Joan Cusack is one of my favorite comedic actresses, and every part she plays is so different. She does the wackiest stuff and somehow it works. I like watching her a lot, and I think you can always go further and pull back. That's something I really have to work on.

I love saying dialogue and creating a full character more than just being physical. But I always end up doing physical stuff in my roles.

I always enjoy impersonating my characters in the first-person singular.

When I was dancing, whether it was the music or the story, the question was 'Why am I doing this piece, and why am I dancing?' It is exactly the same when you are acting. You have a very close relationship with your body movement. You have to find the physicality of your character.

Yeah, I've always been accused of having a sense of mischief and I'm very flattered that you say you can see it in the roles I play, because I think that's important, even if I do play intense characters, like especially Christine Cagney.

I'm very kinesthetic, and when you're that way, you just feel it in your body. I know that other actors think with the logical part of their brain, but I wear my character inside my body, even when I'm away from the set.

I'm a physical actor in that I start with a physical sketch of the character. I find it easier to find inspiration from the outside in. If I find the character's tensions and the way he carries himself or looks, that's going to affect how I talk. So that's how I start to create that person.

So the laughs had to come from the character, not because we had balloons in our shirts or were speaking in high voices. That was very important to us.

I'm a very physical actor; everything I do is pretty much body-oriented. I sometimes am able to deliver information just with a look; my face does two or three different things, and it says it all.

If you're playing a cop in a modern film, you don't have to walk with your spine straight up and bow before a fight. There's a lot of free form of expressing yourself as an actor.

If you look at me in 'Ride Along,' even though I'm playing two different characters, my demeanor and my tone were not aggressive.

Whether it's a double take or a spit take or an extra-long pause before a reaction or a line, I try to be as cognizant as possible about the technical end of it. So I think the physical stuff works easier for me than maybe for others who are more just going on instinct.

I'm not just somebody shuffling around in a monster suit. I'm a kind of puppeteer from the inside who is attempting through arm and body movements to give the creatures I play a sense of personality.

I love to come in and play with a wig or glasses or clothes. I love using props. I'm from the Peter Sellers school of trying to prepare for the character.

Modeling is really silent acting.

I assume the body language no matter what in doing voiceover. There is a transformative aspect.

You're always looking to have a unique experience as an actor, and definitely, being punched by a puppet ranks as a singular experience in my career.

In a costume, you need very exaggerated body language - as you say, sort of mime-type skills.

I'm pretty much of a physical actor.

You have to play your characters, not like them.