Malcolm McDowell Quotes

When people give you a writing assignment, they're asking what you think. That's the very opposite of being an actor. When you're an actor, no one wants to hear what you think.

Acting is like any other art form, in that you have the option to go very big or go very small.

Acting and singing are actually very similar because they're both telling a story.

Acting is a strange job because your control is very limited.

I'm an entertainer, so in whatever form I entertain... The thing about being a rapper is that you have more control over your form, whereas with acting you have to compromise a lot.

See, that's the thing: I'm not one of those actors who thinks, 'God, I've got to improvise and make it my own.' No, my first job as an actor is to take what's written and make it work. And then, if they want me to improvise, I'll do that.

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.

Acting is a mysterious process.

An actor is supposed to be a sensitive instrument.

So what's so enticing about doing a play is that you get to do that thing that got you into acting in the first place... There's a real attraction to being able to play, to just play. And that's something that theater affords you.

Making a film or doing a play are completely different experiences and entirely fulfilling, but completely unique. I also think one complements the other. People often say that theater is about flexing your muscles, and is actually real acting, whereas I sort of disagree.

Actors are just entertainers, even the serious ones. That's all an actor is. He's like a serious Bruce Forsyth.

I became fascinated by the fact that you could translate written material into performance.

Actors are responsible to the people we play.

I knew that I could be more creative onstage, to state my own case and deliver my own interpretation of the role much more aggressively than in the recording studio.

Doing acting opened up other creative outlets; it made me feel freer as an artist.

Actors are investigators.

As much as I know people love the method and what you can draw out of yourself, a lot of acting is very imaginative.

I'm an actor, but I'm an artist.

The fact is, as actors, everything we do, bad or good, is a contribution. To me, it is a positive thing to give people as wide a range of human behavior with some sense of understanding of that behavior or some clue to it.

I think theatre is by far the most rewarding experience for an actor. You get 4 weeks to rehearse your character and then at 7:30 pm you start acting and nobody stops you, acting with your entire soul.

A play, after all, is a mystery. There's no narration. And as soon as there's no narration, it's open to interpretation. It must be interpreted. You don't have a choice... Each play can become many things.

I guess just a lively imagination is the best effort an actor can have.

It's important to listen to the actor who is there on the stage and living it.

Actors are observers of human life, of human behavior.