John Malkovich Quotes

Time is always important; sometimes time doesn't always go along with patience. It is always important. You have to deal with it. It's part of football. Every decision is judged.

Chess is a forcing house where the fruits of character can ripen more fully than in life

We discover our character through decisions under pressure.

Character cannot be made except by a steady, long-continued process.

It takes nine months for a baby to develop, it takes nine months to develop a character.

I started 'SNL,' and I became the one who did impressions. I did that, but then I wanted to get an original character on, and that took a long time to get one on that stuck. And then I got Vinny Vedecci on - 'Oh great' - and then it took a couple more seasons to get Greg the Alien on. You have to have some patience.

When you play the same character for a long time, you have a shorthand. You get onto the set, you put on your outfit and two-thirds of your work is done because you've built on that work for so many years.

Time plays a role in almost every decision. And some decisions define your attitude about time.

I think part of the fun of being an actor is getting to work with different directors and seeing their take on it, what they're passionate about. They all have different ideas about your character.

When someone pitches a joke for a character that is just perfect, and you can imagine that actor reading that line at your table read or on the set, it's like the sound of a snap snapping into place.

Every time you say yes to a film there's a certain percentage of your yes that has to do with the director, a certain percentage to do with the story, a certain percentage with the character, the location, etc.

It has taken a great deal of energy, which has not been so difficult to summon as the necessary patience to wait, simply wait much of the time - until my instincts assured me that I had assembled my materials in proper order for a final welding into their natural form.

There's time enough, but none to spare.

Directing remains very psychological, and it takes a lot of time and reflection. When you're an actor, it takes less time, and you can express yourself physically.

I don't know if I do anything to get into character: I just go with my gut.

With all of my work, it always takes a while for people to get it.

When you get a character that you're just starting to work on, it's the most exciting and most terrifying feeling because you have endless hours of diving in, researching, reading, and decision-making.

I typically try not to think too hard about what I'm going to do in a certain scene with a certain actor in a certain moment because I think that kind of lends its way to not being as improvisational and sort of carefree as one would hope.

I don't prepare for any role. I go on the sets and do it.

To me, editing is not something you can do in a rush because the artists themselves are not always their own best editors. Time is absolutely everything.

It's kind of amazing; I don't know anything. It's an interesting way to work where you're living in the moment and making decisions for your character in the moment. You have to go with your gut on everything - try not to over-think things. That tends to make me doubt what I did, but then that's always the case. I'm a worrier. I have to accept that and just be a worrier.

If I have learned one thing in my 54 years, it is that it is very good for the character to engage in sports which put your life in danger from time to time. It breeds a saneness in dealing with day to day trivialities which probably cannot be got in any other way, and a habit of quick decisions.

No magic formula can completely prepare us for crises in life. However, each choice we make now will impact how we handle those crises in the future. Make your choice count. Dedicate time each day to developing your character. If you do, courage will be there when you need it most.

We all have our moments. But you can switch it around. Then you've got the activist type who bases their decisions in the development of a character on what it symbolizes to society - what the ethical code is.

Sometimes if I stick in a character too much I feel like I might start to get blinkered, because I'm making my decisions too definite.