John Malkovich Quotes

It's communication - that's what theatre is all about.

Action is drama. If we cannot make the audience laugh, smile or cry with us, we are not actors.

People always make that mistake when they talk about theatre - the notion of the 'theatrical' meaning something separate from life. If it doesn't relate to life, it doesn't relate to anything.

What is drama but life with the dull bits cut out.

I thought 'The Humans' was a beautiful play.

There are an infinite number of ways to be moved in the theater.

A play is a passion.

Dramatics are what keep you in the seats.

I love theater. I love the idea that you can transform, become somebody else, and look at life with a completely new perspective. I love the idea that people will sit in one room for a couple of hours and listen.

I love theater. I love sitting in an audience and having the actors right there, playing out what it means to be a human being.

And when I go to see plays, I marvel at how people can do that. I've done it all my life, but I still find it mystical.

Make them laugh, make them cry, and hack to laughter. What do people go to the theatre for? An emotional exercise. I am a servant of the people. I have never forgotten that.

As far as I'm concerned, an audience is an audience. Whether it's an audience in Hull or the National Theatre, that's who you play to. It's not money - it's good to get some, but that's not why I do it. You do it because you have to, to tell a story.

From my point of view, there is a lot of joy in stage work.

There's theater in life, obviously, and there's life in theater.

I'd love to be remembered as a character actor who brought illumination to roles in wonderful plays and who delivered performances that made people think and rethink those roles.

That's what I love about acting and love and drama and art: that humanness we all share.

Theater is the most important thing in life for me.

The function of the actor is to make the audience imagine for the moment that real things are happening to real people.

As rewarding as a good film role can be, there is just nothing like getting up on a stage and taking an audience for a ride.

In theater, there's a lot of work to do to build the characters. It's a great experience.

Coming back to theatre is something I'm keen to do for the rest of my life. It recharges my batteries, so to speak.

Movies are all about plot. Theater, even if it's story heavy, it's about ideas. Theater has to resonate in your heart in a way that movies don't.

I made mistakes in drama. I thought drama was when actors cried. But drama is when the audience cries.

I would love to do more movies. I'd like to get into some theater, too, if I could, just to learn more. I want to do gritty performances that I'm proud of. It doesn't matter to me if four people see it or millions of people see it, as long as I perform in such a way that people go, 'Wow!'