Carol Kane
And my first film was Carnal Knowledge, another amazing experience, largely because of Mike Nichols, who would tell me you can't do anything wrong because you're doing everything right.Collection: Amazing
In my experience, each project is what it is, and nothing is necessarily a turning point.
There's nothing obvious or predictable in acting. That's what it means to be in this profession.
New York, to me, even though I grew up here, there's something magical about it. I remember, every time I used to go to L.A. for work, when I'd come back and get off the plane and be driving towards the landscape of the city, I'd be beside myself with joy. It doesn't matter how many times!
I think therapy can be very revealing and useful for actors. You start to dig deep and understand certain mechanisms that you hadn't been aware of before and, you know, meanings behind things.
The thing about the four-camera shows is that it's kind of a great combo of theater and film. You have an audience, but you have a camera to capture things, so that's a great thing, too.
I just love the black and white movies.
You just can't make bad writing look good. But if you have good writing, you just say it, and it's almost done.
I didn't know I wanted to go into entertainment, but I knew I wanted to be on stage when I was about seven. I saw a play, like most kids do, at a children's theater in Cleveland, and I just saw them up there, and I thought, 'that's where I want to be.'
My preference is for really good writing, and I just really don't care where it is.
You can fake a lot of stuff, but you can't fake if the story isn't there and if the writing isn't good.
I guess I'm lucky in that I started working very young in all three of the mediums. I started in stage first, and then I moved into film, also very young, and when I did 'Taxi,' for instance, it was live in front of an audience but also filmed; that was a fun combination.
I don't like to objectify the people I play. I always try to go for the truth in any part.
I was taught by a lot of great comedy writers to go for the reality in a role, and the comedy will come through.
I think most actors are very impressionable, and that's part of what we do is soak up other's behavior.
Buses and subways are this remarkable social club. You talk to people you wouldn't normally talk to.
I always wanted to be a good actress and a serious actress. I wasn't in the profession to, quote-unquote, meet the stars.
'Hester Street' was my most complete character study, but 'Annie Hall' and 'The Last Detail' were also great.
While filming 'Annie Hall,' I never really hung out with Woody Allen.
The Oscar nomination made me a recognizable name to other actors and people in general.
If they give you good words to say, and you don't get in the way of them, you'll be OK.
I took parts that either I was offered or felt I could do a good job with.
People who are interested in the arts and theater are such a minority.
An actor really suffers when the director isn't prepared because you start running out of time for the shoot and then have to do it fast.
It's hard to regulate the speed at which you can achieve something creative and emotional.
Acting is pretty much my whole life.
I don't feel that I have any great grasp of technique that I should pass along to people.
It's very hard to remain a student in life.
That's when the great stuff happens, when you're not checking yourself all the time, being critical of yourself and what other people are doing.
I don't put together cars, I put together people.
I know I'll work, but not when or where. I never know what to pack.
I don't like that I'm my own commodity, that I am what I sell.
Work is the most nourishing thing so far in my life.
I have fun at work.
I make my relationships at work.
My face is my career.
I only eat things that you don't have to kill.
There is no restaurant anywhere in the world where I have been that I haven't been able to find something to eat.
Sometimes every single element of a character is a torturous discovery.
I didn't decide to be a character actress.
It's totally mystifying to me how anyone could have canceled 'Taxi.' I don't understand it because that stuff is rare.
I was this extremely dramatic actress. And then, suddenly, I was doing comedy.
'Taxi' made a big difference because it got me into comedy.
When you're doing a legitimate play, if you have a company of 12, it's considered a big cast.
I don't like to discuss my work in a lot of detail; I'm afraid of dissecting it in a way that is not good for me.
This is a grueling profession. Either you can't get work, or you can't get certain kinds of parts, or you get a part, and it kills you because it's not good enough, or you get successful and feel guilty about it.
There are directors who don't cast you for the way you act but for the way you are, the way you behave around the dinner table.
My first movie was with Mike Nichols.
All of our ancestors came from somewhere.
I know that I'm in the minority to be able to keep working all these years. But I want more!