Actor's Research Quotes

And I think when you're playing someone who is a real person, it's extremely important to take the time and put in the effort to learn about who they are to be able to respectfully portray that.

I dont like any of them, because they don't read the books. In Kiss Me Deadly my story is better than his story. Anthony Quinn played in The Lond Wait and he didn't read the book either.

I'm so fascinated with the study of people and why they are the way they are. That's my research and my archaeology, if you will, when I get a role. I'm so excited to attack a part from every angle of what makes a person a person.

I don't think I've ever watched a movie to prepare for a role.

You're in a very nice position as an actor when you're portraying a piece of history that actually happened and portraying characters that actually existed. There's so much more to draw on and your research as an actor becomes much easier than if it's some fiction that you're trying to create a world around and background and history.

In theater, you go in-depth with your character, so coming to the States, it was inevitable to dig into the pilots I liked. I knew what characters I was going to be reading for, so I would dissect them and really get involved with them.

If you play a role, you want to familiarize yourself with that person's world. If I were playing an airline pilot or a doctor, I'd probably want to hang out with a doctor or an airplane pilot for a while, ask some questions. You don't get to hang out the kings. They don't help consult on movies. So your resources are, by necessity, secondary.

Ellis Peters's historical detail is very accurate and very minute, and therefore is not only interesting to read but good for an actor to acquire a sense of the period. And the other thing I think is that an actor lives in the land of imagination.

It's always important to try and get a real sense of the world around my characters. I especially think it helps actors.

I've played a super soldier, a doctor, a World War II fighter pilot, a professional footballer, and a meth-dealing junkie. All those things allow you to educate yourself about different worlds that you have to get familiar with.

Well, obviously, as soon as I'd finished the script I read a lot of books on Winston Churchill, and started to gain weight and really prepare emotionally, mentally and physically for the role.

I figure out who I'm playing opposite, and I really do study them.

I'm one of those actors where usually I'll read a script, and then I'll have a flurry of notes. I'll ask a hundred questions about things, and really get in there and examine it.

At the moment I'm doing this space movie, so I'm obsessed with physics and space travel. I know three months down the line it's gone. Then I'll be able to superficially say stuff about space.