Acting for Film Quotes

I had gone to acting school for years. It was the kind of thing I had studied to do. I had worked with good coaches and trained to do this my whole life: to be a realistic actress capable of doing truthful work.

I felt very insecure about whether I was up to recreating my stage 'Fagin' in front of a camera.

I think I approach everything as an actor first. I'd rather walk onto a set and just act and just worry about that.

You learn a lot about acting and being physical and being on stage, but there is technical stuff on camera that you can't learn until you do it.

I was a theater actor back in the U.K., and you knew the whole play, so you could plot your storyline and character. And then I did 'Lost' and didn't know, and it was kind of frustrating, but I enjoyed it.

I would love to explore film seeing as I have prominently been on television. It would be nice to change it up and focus on film a little bit.

If we had an audience to play to, the performance would have gotten too big. Sizing our performances to the camera was an important journey for me at least.

My first time acting for camera really was for Steven Spielberg in War Horse. I was trained in theater and I was actually working in theater at the time. I had a small role with the Royal Shakespeare Company, which is a huge prestigious theater company back in England. I honestly thought that was as good as it got.

It takes a little more time to get into the role, but not very much more. In making a record you don't have the sense of projection over a distance as in an opera house. We have this microphone and this magnifies all details of a performance, all exaggerations. In the theater, you can get away with a very large, very grand phrase. For the microphone, you have to tone it down. It's the same as making a film, your gestures will be seen in close-up, so they cannot be exaggerated as they would be in a theater.

Film is a lot different. You have the whole script in its entirety, and you have a couple of weeks to learn different scenes, really go over them and rehearse them so when you get to them they're more fleshed out. But TV shows are harder.

As an actor, it's crucial you keep your ears open, especially when you're playing opposite comedic legends in almost every scene.

As an actor, the first thing you're taught is, 'Don't look into the camera; ignore it.'