Instinctive Acting Quotes

Even when I'm reading a script where I'm supposed to be looking at the lead role, I'll find myself gravitating toward some small weirdo in a few scenes instead. I'm very instinctive like that and I love the challenge of not having a lot of time to create someone who feels real.

I'm just an instinctive actress, I've never had a lesson in my life.

I don't prepare for any role. I go on the sets and do it.

I don't prepare for my characters.

I'm the sort of actor who doesn't really prep a lot - I don't do a lot of research for parts. I just go for it, and I usually pull through.

I am very much a seat-of-the-pants actor. I will prepare when I have to. But I like being unprepared.

Elijah can register such subtle emotion on his face that I loved doing close-ups on him. He really brings a superb emotional level to Frodo's scenes and although he is a very instinctive actor, we discussed the character thoroughly.

Honestly, I'm a shallow performer. I just go with the text and feel my way around it. There's not a whole lot of shaping.

Usually, when I act, I try to forget the words and let them come, and just find my way through them.

I'm not an instinctive actor.

A lot of the stuff you do as an actor - or I do, because I can't speak for everyone - is not always consciously thought out. A lot of the time, for me, it's actually just feeling stuff, and it happens all in the moment and your body reacts.

People call me an instinctive actor. I used to consider that an insult early on, only because I had never studied. Now... I love it.

I have no acting technique I act instinctively. That's why I can't play any role that isn't based on something in my life.

I work with my instincts. I don't have a process that I learned in an acting class whereby I break a script down or whereby I do a certain kind of research.

I wasn't beautiful, so there were plenty of character roles. I never did any Shakespeare, I'm far too superficial for that. I just act instinctively.

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 learn the techniques and then take what I need. I have the Essie Davis technique of acting. I'm an instinctive actress.

I'm probably one of the worst actors as far as preparation goes, because I actually don't prepare. I find it easier to read the script and whatever hits me in my stomach, like deep down, I just go with it. And the director kind of molds me whether to go right or left with it.

I like to learn the lines and not get any precontrived things in my head about the part. Just get on stage and see what the other actors are doing, and respond to them as honestly as I can.

I don't rehearse a lot. I try to keep it organic. Even in movies, the less I rehearse, the better I am.

I like figuring out where I need to be mentally so that I'm not thinking about the camera and that it's second nature. I want to get to a place where I can exist within the confines of what you can do with filmmaking and not have to think about it.

What you really need to build a character is exactly what you don't have in the movies - time. You know, movies are like a line drawing. You have to make very quick decisions, which are, in the end instinctive. Or you make a decision to say "Well, maybe I can do that, because... Oh, that could be irritating after a while, or distracting, etc. etc." Some of it is a matter of time, always.

I never contemplated. I just went in there and did my acting. I never thought, "What's the character actually feeling here? What's he trying to get across?" And never looked at it from that classically trained actor's point of view.

Actors should be instinctive and spontaneous. If you think about acting, you're not going to be good.

All the talented and smart actors, they get it: as soon as it comes out of their mouth, they know if it's right or wrong. If the writing has a particular voice, they get it, and they can hit it.