Denis Leary Quotes

I do not use any set methods, not even The Method. The character after all is in the lines.

A solid theatrical education can only improve a screen performance. It gives you a fuller capacity to read a script and understand a character, for one thing. It's important to alternate between the two activities.

The process of rehearsal means you learn so much and really get the chance to develop your work on a character.

As an actor, you create a character from your understanding of what you have heard and your observations. Eventually, every film is an extension of the images that I have seen or what I have heard or read somewhere.

My preparation is mainly just knowing the lines and getting in and knowing where your character is, knowing what it's about and having ideas that you can put in on the day.

Now there are certain things you have to prepare - like dialect and special skills. But in the moment, interaction between two characters on the page doesn't need - for me, I don't need to prepare that.

As a filmmaker I find it much more rewarding to work with actors who are classically trained. It's about the work and only the work.

In choosing any role, I ask the same questions: what kind of part is it? is the role challenging? does the director have a vision? is the story moving? etc.

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.

I don't really prepare for each role the same way.

I don't personally look to my own life experiences for answers about how to play a scene.

I like to have something to base a role on.

I like to rehearse. We did a lot of rehearsals for 'Moneyball,' but it is really individual to the actor. It's not like, 'Here is my process, everybody. Fit in.'

The thrill of acting is the discovery part, so it all changes, but it has to change in a way that fits what is written. You can't just wander off and get interested in your own tangent.

Alan Ball, he's good at challenging his actors, I'll say that.

In acting, one should look at the film in totality. Improvisations should only be made keeping in mind the limits of a character. Always believe in team work.

I am a complete director's actor.

I like to prepare for my roles well, so you can call me a method actor to an extent.

There's pre-production, and the second part is when you start rehearsal. Pre-production was a very large learning curve for me.

I never do any research for my roles.

I have never been to an acting school, and on the sets of 'Karwaan,' Irrfan was my acting school. By observing him, I learnt to improvise in the scenes along with focusing on the smallest of the details.

Film acting is really the trick of doing moments. You rarely do a take that lasts more than 20 seconds. You really earn your spurs acting onstage. I needed to do that for myself. I would hate to say at the end of everything that I never did a stage play.

In acting class, teachers talk about how the 'givens' of a situation help define a character.

I'm not the kind of actor that would know what my character had for breakfast last Tuesday.

In a rehearsal room, your real resource as an actor aren't the things around you; your resources are your imagination and your director and the other actors. In those close quarters, your imagination and your skills are what you turn to.