William H. Macy
What actors are good at doing is walking into a situation that should make you incredibly self-conscious and frightened and doing it anyway. That's the gig, pretending that you are comfortable.Collection: Self
I've studied Stanislavsky, and Mamet taught Stanislavsky, and I studied with Sanford Meisner. But the part of the method that I think is the most fruitful is the method of physical actions. It all comes down to your objective: Nothing else counts except what you want. How you feel will take care of itself.Collection: Care
All modesty aside, I think I'm good at reading scripts. The way I read a script is as fast as I can, all in one sitting, and I don't read many of the stage directions. I only read enough stage directions to let me know where I am, because they're always so verbose and mostly horseshit. So I only read the dialogue, which allows me to see the movie in my mind's eye in real time.Collection: Real
It’s a shame...you just don’t see young people doing anything outside these days.Collection: People
Before I made it big I worked as a dishwasher, washing dishes in this place called Dishwasher House where people could just come in and do whatever they wanted to the dishes and we had to clean them with our hands till they bled. A lot of struggling actors worked there-Downey Jr., Joaquin Phoenix, Damon Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Keenen Ivory Wayans-and we actually all kind of wish we still did.Collection: Struggle
At the end of the day, what actors really want to do is act a lot and not wait around in the trailer.Collection: Waiting
I feel very secure about the role of the actor in the future. They need us, because stories are about people.Collection: People
What I've discovered is, really, acting is acting is acting. It's all the same. Seventy-five percent of the skills are the same in both media.Collection: Acting
I do love comedy, but I'm not brave enough to tackle a script whose goal is to make you laugh. That's tough. The ones that can do it, I tip my hat off to them, but I don't have that kind of humor or mind.Collection: Goal
I've got two little girls, I'm not scared about sex. I'll teach them, it's not going to kill them. But what could kill them is violence. Guns, drinking and driving, these are the real dangers in our society.Collection: Girl
Our glorification of violence is ripping society apart. I don't want my children exposed to it.Collection: Children
I've discovered that I can't trust the ratings board at all, because they have - to my mind - a perverted point of view about what's appropriate for children. They think that if you see any part of a male or female anatomy, we have to protect children from it, which is not true, and they think almost any level of violence is okay for children, which is absolutely not true... They're really off the mark.Collection: Children
I'm getting bigger roles, and I'm on location more, and I have a wife and family. I'd rather work less, and I've started to implement that. It was either that or my wife would break my heart.Collection: Heart
I love women. I always have. I'm not pretending that I understand them, but I just love women. I love being in their presence and I love everything about them.Collection: Love Is
I'm not religious. It's an issue, 'cause I've got two little kids, and I feel you can't grow up without knowledge of religion.Collection: Religious
I don't watch rushes. My whole thing is to try to stay in the moment with the other actor, and to let it all hang. I'm not sure I'm right on that, though.Collection: Trying
Perhaps there is such a thing as obscene sex, but I know that violence is always obscene. So I don't get it, that you can disembowel a woman but you can't see her tits. Who made that up? That's sick!Collection: Sex
Talk about putting your money where your mouth is. It's not right. Someone's gotta say it. They said it. I applaud them.Collection: Mouths
I introduced myself to Scorsese and I said, "If you need someone to do craft services, I'm there."Collection: Needs
A good actor's director, first of all, is prepared, so there's not an exorbitant amount of wasted footage.Collection: Directors
There are statistics out that say 20 year olds, 18 years olds think about sex 90 percent of the time. They only don't think about sex when they're eating, and that's rare.Collection: Sex
So many actors spend so much energy trying to remember the lines. It's so foolish. Guys are the worst.Collection: Guy
Just learn the whole script before you start shooting. That makes shooting a joy. Even if they rewrite, it's easy.Collection: Joy
Many times, I like to read the script before I even know who they want me to play, so I can read it and really enjoy it as an audience member. I think that's given me the ability to ferret out the really special scripts from all the rest.Collection: Thinking
Every scene has two people who want two different things, so there's conflict in every scene. You've got to duke it out, and you've got to get the other person to change his or her mind and do it your way.Collection: Two
That's pretty much what every scene is about, getting people to see your point of view. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.Collection: Winning
I love directors who talk action as opposed to emotion.Collection: Directors
To a certain extent. I'm a fan of rehearsal on the day [of the shoot], more than getting together a week beforehand.Collection: Together
I'm a big fan of rehearsal. I'm famous for pulling the cast together, not so much to formally rehearse, but just to run the lines. My theory of acting is that it takes all your attention just to stay in the moment, and keep your attention on the other person, and get him to do what you want him to do.Collection: Running
I've written a lot of scripts that someone else directed, and it's absolutely vital that, if I'm gonna act in it, then I have to take off the writer hat and let the director direct.Collection: Directors
I feel like a lot of the young actors that are just coming up are really good. I think directors are directing better.Collection: Thinking
If I had my choice, I would do the same little independent films, but they would have $100 million budgets, so I could get paid a fortune and hang out in a huge trailer.Collection: Independent
You'd much rather act with a pal, someone you know really well. That way, you can cut all the niceties and go right to insulting each other.Collection: Cutting
Actors are embracing a new aesthetic, which is leaning more toward truthful and simple and direct, as opposed to what we would normally call sitcom acting.Collection: Simple
It's not good for people to have the safety net too low... People can take care of themselves better than we allow them to.Collection: People
With an inexperienced director, a lot of times the days go on to 14, 15, 16 hours. It goes horrendously overtime. And because of the lack of money, they just keep you there, regardless of the hours.Collection: Directors
I'm drawn to a lot of first-time directors. One of the great common denominators in these small independent films is that there's a person, or two people, who have an absolutely monomaniacal passion to get these films made. That's what makes them happen. Sometimes, it takes years and years to finally get it done, but by never backing down, by never giving up, they get these films to the screen by hook or by crook.Collection: Giving Up
Anyway, I try to be a good guy. I try to tell the truth, but I'm not religious.Collection: Religious
I have been working out for 30 years, staying in shape in the dream that someday I would get to play a sex scene. Finally I get one, and they cut it.Collection: Dream
The only reason an indie gets made is because someone has a burning passion to do it and won't take no for an answer, as opposed to a big film, which is like a train that starts rolling down the tracks and nothing can stop it.Collection: Passion
I've always felt it's the directors purview to say what; it's the actor's purview to say how. It's not good for an actor to have the big picture in mind - it bollocks you up. An actor's purview is the tiny little... We measure our performance in seconds.Collection: Mind
It was my first impulse, but I chose to play the priest as a true believer who was an absolute man of faith that absolutely supports the church.Collection: Men
One of the things I did early on in film was over-enunciate and talk too loud.Collection: Film
The character and the actor in a long-running series slowly become one. I think there must be funny stories about actors who, in the pilot for a TV series, did some weird thing with their eyes, or some speech impediment or something, and the next thing you know, it's eight years later, and they're still doing that freaking gag.Collection: Running
I have a tendency to say 'yes' to a script or no to a script. Not 'yes' based on a rewrite.Collection: Scripts
A good director is very well prepared, and knows exactly how he's going to cut the film, so the shooting is as efficient as possible.Collection: Cutting
Somebody's gotta stand up and say pubic hair is good, murder is bad. Sex is good, violence is bad.Collection: Sex
We, in America, are so screwed up when it comes to sex. That's all we can see.Collection: Sex
You can skim those stage directions and go right to the dialogue. You can almost read the movie in the same amount of time it will take you to see the movie.Collection: Stage