Michael Caine Quotes

It's fashionable for modern actors to talk about getting 'inside' a character. But you can't get to the inside without getting the outside right first.

I know, because I tried all sorts of ways of being in character, and the best way is to be totally straight.

Actors are always looking for ways to build a character.

As an actor, you're used to putting on characters, taking them off, becoming someone else, doing your research, and working on that.

I'm an actor. I'm trying to be the character and do what they're doing.

I'm not an actor who approaches films doing a lot of research. I do zero research, unless it's a film where I'm playing a mock version of someone who already existed. Then, you've got to do a lot of research.

All you really have when you're acting is the confidence and your ability to manage and tell a story by creating a character.

When I work, I really try to get absorbed in the character. Unless I want to do something playful with the camera, I'm not too worried about where the camera is or positions.

When I act, a part of me goes into the character I am playing.

I'm so into playing different characters, even when I was on Nickelodeon. I just observe.

As actors, you play people who are not yourselves!

If you have a very good concept of your character, you can snap into it.

A lot of actors and actresses pull from past experiences.

The thing about being an actor is that you turn into other people. You have to hide yourself a bit in order to let that other person come out.

As an actor, it's your job to switch on and off from the character.

I've always been an actor. That's my job — I can be anything you want me to be.

I would compare it to an actor. I drive myself into the character that later on is in the ring.

I'll never approach a part in the same way again. Piaf taught me so much. In terms of my work, I think I'll enjoy it even more than before, because now I know that characters truly exist in their own right. I'll have a way to bring them even more intensely to life.

I always try to do something very different with each character because that's why I like to do this, because I can become someone else completely and it's fun.

I think a lot of that is what helped me develop my character. I wouldn't say it was Method, but it was definitely a little more in depth than I've done before in terms of acting. With the other kids, we all were such good friends by the time we started shooting. Because of that, it allowed us to trust each other more to push the dynamics of the relationship to places which you might not be able to had you not trusted that person.

As an actor in the theater you're taught that you never play a bad guy. You have to love who you are. You can't say, "Oh, I'm a bad guy." How do you play that?

The point of acting is to hide yourself and get lost in character. To play the same character in eighteen movies would be defeating the purpose I believe so I try to keep a little bit of diversity.

Movie actors earn their living and learn their craft through listening and reacting.

I always try doing a different character for every film so it's not just changing one.

I have always wanted to do a book about actors because I think that the death of a character is a tremendously emotional experience.