Greta Gerwig Quotes

I'm more of a writer than an actor, and I used to say that I'm mostly an improviser, though I haven't improvised in awhile.

I've always been an improviser. I was one before I knew even what the word was... And acting, that I've been doing since I was 5.

I'm a big fan of improvisation but I can't say that I'm great at it.

I've done lots of improv things but not a whole movie.

My dream role would be someone anything that Meryl Streep can do. 'Julia and Julia' - I thought that was beautiful. She just had the essence of her. To truly become someone, invoking emotions like happiness and sadness and everything in between, that's what I want to be able to do.

Improv has been immensely beneficial to me as both an actor and a writer.

I respond in the moment which is what makes me a good actor.

You can't improvise without a skeletal structure; you can't just go in and start talking. This is a very misunderstood craft because no one else makes movies like this.

'End of Watch' was 98-percent written, and I work really hard to make it look like it's the first time I'm saying it.

The true art is being able to take whatever the writer's done, and if it is a bit flimsy or it is a bit rushed or is just box-ticking writing, then the true artist would be able to make that come off the page and sing for an audience or a viewer. I'm still learning how to do that properly.

'Portlandia' is 100 percent improvised, and I came into this business not knowing anything.

You've got to remember that improvisers are writers and actors and directors all simultaneously. That's what's happening in real time because you're writing on your feet, and you are acting out the words and you are directing what the staging is. You're deciding what staging is.

Acting is mostly interpretive. They use different parts of you, and different sides of you, and different so-called talents.

Improv is like writing. It's actually a different discipline to acting. It helps acting greatly, but it's completely different. It's the same side of your brain when you write as when you improv.

Some of the best stuff in all my movies has been improv.

I improvise whenever I feel it's important, or whenever I think that something's there. It's nice to have a script that's so well-written that I don't have to improvise. I mean, I used to have to re-write whole movies; this is kind of nice.

Improvisation sometimes seemed more like jazz than acting, like verbal jazz, with the actors playing a theme back and forth, and then introducing another theme, incorporating it, somehow trying to work their way all together to a meaning of some kind, or at least a conclusion.

That's what acting is: really make-believe.

I was always a performer even as a child; I loved delving into various characters.

There is nothing like a 'born actor.' It's all about honing the skills.

I am mostly concerned about the script. If I get something that excites me, I will do it.

I tick that cliched box of being the class clown. I've always done impressions and characters, so I'm very lucky that I get to do that as a career now.

There are very few actors who are truly good at improvising; that's a real skill.

I love playing different characters.

There is a lot of acting that is on the table - precisely, good acting. The best movies of mine are the ones that really nobody saw. The Groomsmen, Playing By Heart and Seeing Other People are by far the work I'm the most proud of.