Derek Magyar Quotes

It is always a pleasure to be directed by an actor because they know the scene from the actor's perspective, too. That's an advantage.

You know, I've never been much of a method actor. I feel like, with every project I go in extremely prepared and I like to have a good time.

I am a really writer-oriented actor.

The rehearsal time is almost my favourite part of being an actress, particularly if you're working on a play that hasn't been done before.

Your job as an actor is to piece together whatever you've learned in your training, or whatever you have experienced in your life, to piece together a person.

When you rehearse a play, you spend four weeks with one goal in mind - to wean the actor away from you. You want the actor to become completely independent and to understand all the emotional and psychological moves within the character.

If I wasn't an actor, I never would have known who Debbie Gallagher was. I never would know how her feelings are or how her emotions are, or her family.

As an actor, I'm more interested in characters the longer I have lived with them.

As an actor, you create a character from your understanding of what you have heard and your observations. Eventually, every film is an extension of the images that I have seen or what I have heard or read somewhere.

As a filmmaker I find it much more rewarding to work with actors who are classically trained. It's about the work and only the work.

When I was doing 'All in the Family,' half the time, I was looking at where the cameras were, where were the other actors in the scene, what the audience was doing.

In acting class, teachers talk about how the 'givens' of a situation help define a character.

I do not use any set methods, not even The Method. The character after all is in the lines.

In terms of the character itself, I can't really say that I find anything really difficult. I enjoy the character so much I don't perceive difficulty in trying to be him. It's just a matter of how do we get there.

In choosing any role, I ask the same questions: what kind of part is it? is the role challenging? does the director have a vision? is the story moving? etc.

I've done films where we don't rehearse, and I've done films where we heavily rehearse. I like rehearsals.

I usually don't find myself reacting to my characters. I just create them ... And let the audience decide whether they're empathetic or scared or compelled to cheer me on.

I actually think acting is a form of self-hypnosis. You have to be hyper, hyper aware of what's going on around you. You have to know where the lens is, what the shot is, and where you're moving. And then you have to trick yourself into an emotional state where you believe this stuff is actually happening.

I love an acting challenge, and I love getting to sit down with my script and do all my drama work.

I can speak to actors in their terms. Knowing I was an actor, they relax. You can have the best shot in the world - but, at the center of it, you still need a good performance.

Sometimes a scene works and acting is the easiest thing in the world and you don't have to do much of anything - just enjoy yourself and listen to the other actor. When it doesn't work, then every actor has different ways of dealing with the impasse. Sometimes you use memories from the past. Whatever. It depends from job to job.

When you drop your guard in films, the acting process compensates. You get lazy and you start acting.

I demanded two weeks of rehearsal because to me as an actor, that's the most important time.

A lot of what acting is paying attention.

As a director, it is important to understand the actor's process.