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Wanting to be a good actor is not good enough. You must want to be a great actor. You just have to have that.

Gary Oldman

Each role you play, they set a bar of challenges that you meet. And in the past, I’ve played characters that emotionally expressed themselves a bit more in a physical way. It was a joy, actually.
GARY OLDMAN

Bar Challenge Emotional Expression Happiness Joy Myself Play Role
The thing a drama school can’t give you is instinct. It can sharpen instinct but that can’t be taught, and you have to have intuition. It’s an essential ingredient.
GARY OLDMAN

Drama Essential Intuition School Sharp Yourself
I like these calm little moments before the storm, it reminds me of Beethoven.
GARY OLDMAN

Calm Moments Myself Reminder Storm
You take what you know, and you put it through your own prism. If I play characters that break down or cry, it’s Gary Oldman crying; it’s not the character crying.
GARY OLDMAN

Break Character Cry Knowledge Prism Yourself
Being a good director is knowing sometimes when not to say something.
GARY OLDMAN

Director Goodness Silence Time
If one could have a wish, or an alternative life, I would’ve liked to have been John Lennon.
GARY OLDMAN

Dreams Myself Preference Wish
On set I keep myself to myself; I’d rather the director speak up. I’m not gonna direct a younger actor. I think the power of example works best, actually.
GARY OLDMAN

Best Director Example Power Talk Work Young
At the Oscars, if you didn’t vote for ’12 Years a Slave’ you were a racist.
GARY OLDMAN

Music Oscar Race Vote Yourself
Political correctness has become a straightjacket.
GARY OLDMAN

Correct Jacket Political
I like celluloid, I like film, I like the way that when a movie is projected it sort of breathes a little in the gate. That’s the magic of it to me.
GARY OLDMAN

Breathe Gate Magic Movie Myself Projection Way
People who know me , they know I have a sense of humor, I’m a bit of a joker, a bit of a clown really, and I would love someone to exploit that side of me and send me a romantic comedy.
GARY OLDMAN

Comedy Exploitation Humor Love Myself People Romance
I think filmmaking should be a wonderfully free collaborative process, and it so very rarely is. I often see directors as jailers of my talent.
GARY OLDMAN

Director Freedom Myself Rare Talent Wonderful
As an actor, you people-watch, you observe. And the more famous you become, the sad thing is you lose the ability to do that. Instead of people-watching, you become the focus of attention.
GARY OLDMAN

Ability Attention Focus Lose Observation People
Well, I needed the work – that’s the honest answer. I haven’t worked for a while, a couple of years. So I thought it would be nice to get back to work and earn some money.
GARY OLDMAN

Couple Honesty Money Myself Need Work
I was brought up by my mother and my two sisters, although they’re older than me and fled the nest very young, so I was technically raised as an only child, but I was very much loved.
GARY OLDMAN

Children Love Mom Myself Raise Sister
My passion and energy get mistaken for anger.
GARY OLDMAN

Angry Energy Mistake Passion

Wanting to be a good actor is not good enough. You must want to be a great actor. You just have to have that.

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Wanting to be a good actor is not good enough. You must want to be a great actor. You just have to have that.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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