Viggo Mortensen Quotes

I'm an instinctive actor. I just see the part and play it. I'm more interested in what isn't said - the silences.

I'm obsessed with subtexts. I love that we often don't say what we feel. That gap between the two. I like it when actors reveal a lot without having to say it.

So much is said with the electricity of the eyes, the intensity of a whisper. Less is more.

Your internal dialogue has got to be different from what you say. And, you know, in film, hopefully that registers and speaks volumes. It's always the unspoken word and what's happening behind someone's eyes that makes it so rich.

Don't write anything you can phone. Don't phone anything you can talk. Don't talk anything you can whisper. Don't whisper anything you can smile. Don't smile anything you can nod. Don't nod anything you can wink.

Acting coaches in Hollywood were always telling me to use my hands and body more. But that was never me. I just breathe and sometimes it doesn't look as if I'm doing that.

There is a tendency to underestimate the power of what we can do without words. Sometimes you can make a scene even more powerful and precise without dialogue.

I discovered that silent film is almost an advantage. You just have to think of the feeling for it to show. No lines pollute it. It doesn't take much - a gaze, an eyelash flutter - for the emotion to be vivid.

In general, men are wired to notice obvious signs that convey interest in mating - a warm smile, for example - and ignore other subtleties, like if your lipstick is faded.

The best way to show an emotion is not through a character's words, but their smallest expressions - to take what an actor would visually do and try putting that down on the page for the reader to 'see.'

It made me alive to the fact that the most important thing sometimes is what isn't said - to prepare for moments of revelation that can be read entirely on actors' faces without dialogue.

I prefer to express myself physically, or non-verbally. I prefer just to react without having a lot of dialogue.

Whether I'm doing a routine where I want to move people, or if I want to feel moved myself, I definitely tap into those moments where it's not just dancing or movement. It might just be a hand gesture or just a slow look, or even just the way you slightly tip your head forward. These subtleties speak volumes.

Women communicate with all their senses. Men don't do that.

What isn't said is as important as what is said.

Guys know how to read each other's signals. They know how to telegraph love for one another without throwing their arms around one another.

As much as movies are about the words that you're saying, they're also about what's not said, the silent moments.

In a Western, you talk more with your eyes and your actions than you do with big speeches. I love that.

I think there's a great deal of information you can convey with looks or silence.

The person you're playing must have feelings, but if he's not able to show them, then just the subtlest rumblings and nuances can say an incredible amount.

It's a good challenge as an actor to express feelings without saying too many words.

Some actors are better with words than me. I prefer to play it rather than say it - and keep people thinking.

Though I am associated in the public mind with glamorous songs and dances, my appearance in 'Company' is in no way glamorous. Rather than rely on my body language, the number zooms in on my facial expressions.

Ninety-eight per cent of all human communication is non-verbal.

We spend so much time listening to the things people are saying that we rarely pay attention to the things they don't.