Barry Levinson Quotes

As an actress, I'm drawn to emotion and expressing the human condition in all its forms, and I'm fortunate to have thoughts and feelings at my fingertips.

Modelling is only about the look. In acting, it's the feel that matters.

Actors want to act. I think a lot of times what happens is that they're expected to bring it all. Probably because I'm a writer, I'm not telling them what to do. I just provide them with as much as I can.

I think the responsibility that any actor has is to bring some truth to the work.

Let me put it this way. There is more to acting than just acting like somebody. I like to act in such a way that other people get some notion of what it's like to be somebody.

'Inherent Vice' was a novel that already existed, and in 'Steve Jobs,' I was playing a real person; in those situations, you do feel an added pressure to please.

Acting - you're taking someone else's visions and someone else's inspirations, and it's up to you to portray that to everyone watching the film.

I've made many films and only a few times I've played real people.

In reality, for me every role is completely different.

Action is drama. If we cannot make the audience laugh, smile or cry with us, we are not actors.

The best actors are always the ones who've directed as well, as they understand all the problems you face.

My job always is to play a person, not to judge her.

All of us have a lot of sides to ourselves, but the fun thing about being actor is you make one side predominant for the character you're playing.

If you know exactly what your character knows, it's a drama.

I usually don't find myself reacting to my characters. I just create them ... And let the audience decide whether they're empathetic or scared or compelled to cheer me on.

I think it's fun playing a part that lots of other people have played, in a way.

Actors are really working with bodies, with their minds, and with their emotions. Feelings, basically. That's what movies are about, going from one feeling to another.

The most fun you can possibly have as an actor is to walk that line between what's real and what's interesting.

For me really good acting is about subtext.

Acting isn't necessarily pretending. It's storytelling. It's giving someone your perspective on something.

I play a huge variety of roles.

Good acting is all in the writing. If it isn't on the page, then it really won't make any difference. You cannot act on force of personality alone.

I want to play characters that are interesting to watch.

An actor has to embody a role.

The thing is when you play a character it's the persona you bring across from a book to film, or book to script to film. If I play Frank Sinatra, there's gonna be things I do in a movie that Frank might not have done, but it's the personality that comes across.