Artistic Flexibility Quotes

I think I've been lucky enough not to have to do movie after movie after movie for financial reasons, so I've been able to live life and also make movies. I didn't have to grind them out. I could go long periods where I was living life rather than tripping over cables.

From the first album I'm playing bass on a lot of the tunes, and piano on a lot of 'em, and drums, and guitars. I did that on almost every album.

Doing a film and saying, I've done a really dark film and now I have to do a comedy... That's not me. If a script comes along and it's dark I'll absolutely do it and take the consequences. I'm not fussed about the image that goes along with it.

I can't give you 150 takes. I can't even give you 30 different ways of doing it! I don't have the talent or the range for it.

At one moment, I thought that if I didn't do a picture in a certain way, then it wasn't a 'Mario Testino Picture.' And I've realized that Mario Testino is everything, Mario Testino is whatever he feels like being, because it always ends up looking like me, whatever I do.

I don't have a preferred medium of work, but like all actors, I do like to move from one to the other if possible.

There's been a time where I was like, I wanna be a folk singer; no, I wanna sing soul. I want to sing classical music. I want to sing R&B. I want to be on Broadway. I just wanna sing. Whatever comes out of my mouth, that's what I want to do.

When you're a rapper, just a rapper, you have to kind of settle for whatever comes your way - if a beat is hot, you wanna rap on it, period.

I had no desire to be a star. I wanted to be a character actress and be able to do all kinds of parts and work on a lot of things. That was my unconscious choice. I wanted to be an undercover actress.

I think animation can tell more than live action.

I'm pretty unfussy when it comes to what a TV show should be, or what a movie should be. A lot of people are trying to maintain the theatrical experience for films. That's not really who we are or what we're about. We come from this fundamental understanding that we're just blessed that someone is giving us any money to make something in this town.

Working with Justin Bieber, I learned that he can literally do any genre - he's a chameleon. His voice is so flexible that he's not locked in to one genre, and it just shows the world that he can really sing anything.

My fans are like, 'Lab does what he does,' which is really cool. If I came out with a Jack White rock tune tomorrow, people would be like, 'Yeah, cool man,' which is great.

It's like Willie Nelson. You're an artist and you have different styles inside of you.

I do admire a lot of artists now who are completely multi-faceted - they're doing seven different jobs all at once and it doesn't seem to faze them whatsoever. It just astonishes me completely and I have nothing but admiration for them.

I have no idea where I want to go musically, but I'm fine that way. I don't need to be faithful to any concept, you know.

I don't think I was ever meant to be tied down to one band for the rest of my life, playing one style of music.

When I meet a good actor, I would like to be a director. When I meet a good director, I would like to be an actor. When there is a good script, I would like to be both a director and an actor. The switch is very natural, not intentional.

You're following your track, the story, your only plan, your map for the audience, and all the other stuff is, like, the fun stuff: the costumes, the locations, the set-dressing and the actors. They can all be variable as you like if you stick - however roughly - to the path.

A good singer can sing anything.

In my opinion, being an all-rounder is good. It is not right that I should be content with qawwali and ignore other forms, since I am basically trained in classical singing. We should be masters of all forms of singing.

If you do an indie film, where it's like, "We don't have a lot of money to give you, but we'll really give you a lot of freedom," that's really a luxury to have in this business. At least for myself, because I'm still kind of earning my acting credibility.

I've always been involved with all aspects of my careers. Being behind the camera seems as natural as in front.

My profession is to change myself according to my role and I work hard on it.

I'll do whatever I can do to remain employed. I'm just not precious about doing comedy or doing drama. I never want to do something in order to prove to other people what I can do.