Dramatic Impact Quotes

There are no rules in filmmaking. Only sins. And the cardinal sin is dullness.

I think romance is a tool, comedy is a tool and drama is a tool. I really just want to tell stories that challenge the viewer, move people, make you laugh, perhaps push an idea about being open-minded but never settle on a genre or an opinion. I hate genre. I like movies that are original in their approach.

You can have good writing, but a great actor will make it feel and sound like great writing. You can have great writing, and mediocre actors will make it feel mediocre. Without the actors, you have nothing.

I'm only an actor. I'm not a writer. I'm not going to leave any legacy. All I've ever done is learn the lines and say them.

On stage, don't go near her. She's the best performer in the world.

It is open to question whether the highly individualized characters we find in Shakespeare are perhaps not detrimental to the dramatic effect. The human being disappears to the same degree as the individual emerges.

I'm taken by a story and a character. I'll read a script, and if it touches me and moves me and makes waves, that's why I'll choose it.

I would like to say something deeper, but for me, I saw a production of "Fences" in Rhode Island and a fabulous actress played Rose, but when she first came on the stage she was mad. You could just see it. She was all, "Troy stop!" So by the time you get to the revelation scene, I didn't think she loved him, so there was no loss. I think that the real tragedy and the real drama or the thing that makes you lean in is to see the love, to see the commitment. To see the fact that Rose is invested in this marriage no matter what.

It's not the actor's job to be interesting; that's the script's job. It's our job to be truthful and brave.

Financial crises are like fireworks: they illuminate the sky even as they go pop.

It is very grand and sumptuous and awesome to look at but it was really about the characters for me.

When it is good, theatre takes a lot of beating both to watch and perform.

I want to do action which is larger than life but has a touch of reality.

My favorite makeup look was for my 'Eyes Wide Open' video done by Torsten Witte. It was so dramatic and definitely captured the magic of the video.

When you act, you've got to be like a poet or a musician. It's not about evidence before court. It's not a forensic subject. It's poetry; it's a completely different place.

It is my greatest joy to live a really good part, even though it imposes great strain. An artist is tired but proud when he has created a great work of art. So it is with the actor who really lives a great role and is proud of the part he played.

Drama is very important in life: You have to come on with a bang. You never want to go out with a whimper. Everything can have drama if it's done right. Even a pancake.

If you are playing King Lear you are the centre of attention anyway. You don't need to draw attention to yourself. It's all laid out for you.

Miller didn't write Death of a Salesman. He released it. It was there inside him, waiting to be turned loose. That's the measure of its merit.

When I get a beautifully written piece of material, I immediately start imagining how I would interpret it. I love just daydreaming about it for months, breaking it down, seeing where I can spin something. How I can turn this into the most fun ride for the audience that I can make it? That's my job.

Reading the play at home, however fulfilling, can never be the vivacious experience that Shakespeare intended.

I had such an amazing experience on 'The Pillowman' that it was hard to think what else is going to live up to that.

When you deal with Alan Ball, you're dealing with a person who is a genius in terms of how art imitates life.

I am all for titillating trivialities. I am all for the epic touch. I could almost say that everything in Time, should be either titillating or epic or starkly, supercurtly factual.

You have to write a song around this specific character or to enhance a specific scene. A lot of other craft goes on.