Acting Chemistry Quotes

I resist the idea of there being on-screen chemistry. I think it's something that people like to say without thinking.

Honestly, it's the luck of the draw. If you are comfortable with the actor that you're opposite of - it just breaks down a lot of those insecurities and you can just say, "Okay, I trust this person, and I respect them and know they respect me," and then you can just go with it. When that doesn't exist, it's a lot harder to let go.

I'd worked with Marlon [Brando] a couple of times, and he was a practical joker. He was far more interested in getting jokes out than getting the words out. We laughed all the time.

I generally find an affinity with a lot of the people I play and I suppose if I didn't feel an affinity for them then they wouldn't be particularly good performances.

There was something so cool about being able to carry this film [Into the Forest] together [with Ellen Page] and to play off of each other. It was like having the most worthy tennis opponent.

When I was doing 'The Prime Gig' with Vince, we played around so much that the director separated us like children!

During a performance of 'Blood Brothers' in 1990, I forgot to sing. I was so moved by what my co-star Kiki Dee was doing, that I completely missed my cue.

If you're locked to the words on the script, as good as those scripted words are, if you didn't have the time to rehearse them correctly or if the perceived dynamic between the actors is different from what the writer imagined, and you're not allowed to stray from that, you're going to have a stilted scene.

When Calista Flockhart read for 'Ally McBeal', I saw this perfect chemistry between the words on the page and the person who would embody that character.

Actors don't have to be linked in real life for the chemistry to be translated on screen.

I've never liked watching real-life couples play couples onscreen or onstage. It takes me out of the story.

It's always a mystery when you're going into a role - 'Here's your wife of 40 years and... action!' How do you create ease or chemistry or whatever is supposed to exist?

For me, chemistry is trust. If you have trust you can risk together. It's like a partnership and it means you can have fun together while jumping off a mountain. I have not always been able to get good trust with an acting partner. One of the best was Juliet Landau; I always felt safe with her. Chemistry has nothing to do with physical attraction - that often gets in the way.

There's this thing that's come about that wasn't there when I started acting which is they do this thing called a chemistry test. They put a camera in front of two people, it's usually a boy and a girl, and they go, [whispering]. It's impossible. You can't manufacture it or film it, it just has to happen.

I think it's important to be friends with the person you have to kiss onstage in front of a hundred people. You might not be friends in real life - especially if you're in high school - but you need to at least be 'secret friends' for it to work. Try to be comfortable with each other.

I love working with an actress that you can just look at them and be able to react with your eyes and not have to do much else.

Doing love scenes is always awkward. I mean, it's just not a normal thing to go to work and lay in bed with your co-worker.

I am thrilled that DDLJ has beaten all records, Shah Rukh Khan and I share a close friendship that translates onto the screen. We have such fun working together. Shah Rukh has a great sense of humour. He invests incredible energy into his acting. He reads a lot. I share all these with him. I love books. I love his style of working and abundant refinement. I love him to death and would like to work with him again.

I don't like, and I've never been very good at, close-up shots. As soon as you have the camera right there in front of you, it feels like you're in a different reality from the person you are acting with; you lose any real connection with them.

Kissing on screen isn't easy.

When you work with a good actor, there is this natural rapport and chemistry that develops over time. That chemistry helps your characters come alive and makes the story of the film that much more convincing.

Sometimes you become friends with the characters you portray.

People always ask me about my makeout scenes with him [Tyler Posey]. We joke around a lot and are like, ‘Oh, that was a sloppy one!’ But seriously, I don’t have to make an effort to have chemistry with him. He’s such a sweet guy and really loyal.

When you're working opposite Halle Berry, you're going to get a lot. So you have to give a lot. That said, what I've found striking in the past few days is that people are aware of a good chemistry that exists between us on screen. If that's so, it's due to the fact that she and I have a real liking for each other in real life and a real mutual respect.

You can still have chemistry on screen without getting on with the person. But it just makes your job a lot easier if you don't have to gird your loins, if that's not quite the right phrase, every time you're going to do a scene with that person.