Michael Rooker Quotes

If I took my characters home with me, half of my life would be a misery, I think. No, I tend to compartmentalize work from my life. I'm not terribly method.

For me it would be unhealthy to be a method actor; I'm not mentally stable enough for that - I need to separate my two worlds.

I do some really intense roles and it's not good to bring them home.

You do some acting in a room for a few minutes, hopefully get something out of it that makes you a bit better at acting, and go home. Maybe the people in the room with you liked the acting you did. Maybe they didn't! Either way, it's not the end of the world; you'll be doing this again soon.

I've had plenty of lessons about film acting and theatre acting.

Film acting is really the trick of doing moments. You rarely do a take that lasts more than 20 seconds. You really earn your spurs acting onstage. I needed to do that for myself. I would hate to say at the end of everything that I never did a stage play.

My wife says that stage acting is like being on a tightrope with no net, and being in the movies, there is a net - because you stop and go over it again. It's very technical and mechanical. On stage you're on your own.

It's a strange thing we do as actors. I'm walking out the door, and I'll say, 'O.K., honey, I'm off to take my clothes off.'

Mike Leigh taught me about making choices - as an actor, you choose between being honest and clever, and with Mike, it's always about being honest. I learned how to behave on a film set from Jim Broadbent. He was a great example of someone with a fantastic career who kept his feet on the ground.

I try to leave my work at work, and check my work-baggage at the door before I go outside of here. I'm not a super method actor, and I think that all the answers are inside the script.

Well, all I can say is thank goodness I had 15 years of theater before ever I did film roles. You build technique that you can rely on.

There's a tremendous amount to be gained from being a performer, and being an artist, and being an actor.

Backstage life is terrific training for an actor, seeing shows from the wings.

I can't imagine anything more debilitating, anything more challenging, anything more thrilling than to get on a stage and do any kind of play. It is such a vulnerable place for any actor to be in.

It's hard to get lost in a scene, to get into a character when everyone's standing around you on the set.

Stage is definitely my home first and foremost - I still feel like I'm yet to earn my stripes on set.

I've gotten pretty good at leaving characters on the set. I go home and try to relax and regroup and be ready for the next day.

You can be in an acting class all you want, but you don't fully learn until you get off that stage and in front of a camera.

I have a very healthy relationship to my work, and I find that if a scene is working, no matter how intense it is, you have the catharsis on screen, and you can let it go. I think it's, if at the end of the day you feel like you haven't cracked it, that's when you go home and it's more difficult to switch off.

As an actor, you wouldn't be able to play a character if you were worried about the reaction to what you're doing.

Like any other actor, I draw on life experience.

As an actor, you're trained to do the right thing, be politically correct, say your lines, say the right thing about the people you're working with.

I think if you're an actor, then you can work on stage - but if you've never done it before, you're going to have picked up a few things that you're going to need to change when you're working on stage.

As an actor sometimes you can be a bit emotional and forceful, and that's not always the way to be.

I'm not one of those actors who gets so taken by a role that I can't live my life. I'm the type of actor who goes to work, transforms into a character, takes you on a journey, and then comes back home to be Billy. When I'm in it, I'm in it, but I know how to get out of it. When you can't shut it off, you're a crazy person. I'm not crazy.