Ben Kingsley Quotes

Ultimately, as an actor, it comes down to committing to the text in the script.

There's the truth to every moment that you have to bring to every scene, but you have to understand the tonality of the film before you begin, which isn't something that's instinctual to me.

For any role, I pretty much always go to the script, first and foremost.

My preparation is mainly just knowing the lines and getting in and knowing where your character is, knowing what it's about and having ideas that you can put in on the day.

Acting isn't that hard, really. I mean, I think that people make a big deal about it, but you just kind of try to say your lines naturally.

Acting has to do with saying it as if you meant it, so for me the words are always very important. It's very important for me to know my lines, know them so well that I don't have to think about them.

As an actor, one's role is very much to respond and react to the situation within the context of the character and his world.

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

I look at actors very closely. It's not an accident when the actors excel.

When I do film, I really take on roles and I take on characters.

And that's one thing that helps me is I learn it blandly, vanilla, then I don't try to act it too soon because you start to act it, and you kind of go away from what the next sentence is, what the next paragraph is. So get it down so it kind of can - it's in there so you can then, as I call it, dance on top of it.

Doing the long lines - it looks easy when actresses do it: they just say it straight up, looks like they do nothing wrong, they just keep going, but it's not like that.

I know people who prepare their roles in such a way that they technically look ahead and memorize their gestures, and then they stick to it. Those that are technically proficient enough can make it seem natural, but they do that and don't really take in what other people are doing.

There's no one more willing to do something than an actor when it comes to perfecting a scene.

The best actors do not let the wheels show.

There's something about actors - not stars, but actors - if they have the character, and someone is pushing and shoving them to be the best they can be, they enjoy that.

I'll read a script maybe twice, but I'll think about the role more than I'll rehearse lines.

As an actor, it's my job to prepare myself for a role. If the character is realistic, one can't go wrong.

My process is I try to learn my lines so they're so solid I don't have to think about them or how I'm going to say them.

I'm just always learning lines. I've learned to flag the really crucial scenes, and I start figuring them out and committing them to memory as soon as I get them.

Since I was from the theater, that's how I learned how to go through the process of being a character. That's how I learned, and that's what I was comfortable doing. And then, the first feature films, I'm sure I was no fun because I did not want to be spontaneous in that filmic way that really can work for you.

I love to do very long and complicated scenes.

When you get to set, you don't try to play the plot; you just play the character.

As an actor, my job is to go to the set, read my scene and perform to the best of my abilities.

The most vital thing for an actor to deliver a great performance is to be honest to the role he or she is playing.