You should *have* an experience; it shouldn’t just *be* an experience.
ALAN CUMMINGActually I like working kind of fast, because if you got it, why bother doing it over and over?
More Alan Cumming Quotes
-
-
So the experts think we could have an AIDS-free generation in Africa by 2015, even if the mothers are positive.
ALAN CUMMING -
I had to be a grown-up when I should have been a little boy, and now that I’m a grown-up my little-boyness has exploded out of me. I’ve lived my life backwards.
ALAN CUMMING -
I have no regrets in my life even the crazy things I’ve been in. It all made me the I am today and I wouldn’t change anything. I’m happy with who I am!
ALAN CUMMING -
In my first year at drama school, I did this kids’ show called ‘Let’s See.
ALAN CUMMING -
I’ve actually found – especially doing my cabaret show – I’m connecting with people in a way I haven’t connected with them. I’ve found that when you’re open and honest, people respond to that, whatever you’re being open and honest about.
ALAN CUMMING -
I don’t feel I’m a compulsive person. I multitask. I’m really well-organised, and I have lots of people to help me.
ALAN CUMMING -
Actors aren’t stupid, mostly, and if there’s a sensibility and an aesthetic that a director’s going for, if you’re aware of that too, you can do things to help that.
ALAN CUMMING -
I come more to Scotland than I ever used to, so I feel more connected to it, more part of the zeitgeist. You know when you realize you have a choice and I’m choosing my homeland. It’s funny: when you get older these things creep up to you.
ALAN CUMMING -
With all this stuff going on, with the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” and things like that, we are second-class citizens, definitely.
ALAN CUMMING -
Often for me, if I hear a song I know, it clicks for me and I hear it in a different way and I think, “I could sing that song. I’ve got something to say about that song. Wanting to connect with an audience and wanting them to rethink songs.
ALAN CUMMING -
You can feel it coming and you can see where it is going to take you but you are powerless, utterly powerless to stop it. I know now.
ALAN CUMMING -
It’s really rare for film directors to be that interested in things other than themselves.
ALAN CUMMING -
If they’re not seeing that their society sees gay people as equals, how could you tell them what they’re doing is wrong?
ALAN CUMMING -
Romeo is the most misunderstood character in literature, I think. He’s hardcore to play because he’s displaying the characteristics of Hamlet at the beginning, and, well, then everything else happens.
ALAN CUMMING -
Once in a while it’s good to challenge yourself in a way that’s really daunting.
ALAN CUMMING -
It’s exciting to be with really, really good people. Some people make you feel like you’ve got to up your game.
ALAN CUMMING -
I don’t avoid anyone but I always think some people hate me.
ALAN CUMMING -
You could then, when you lay that as the groundwork, say, “Here I am. This is what I think. I come in peace.” Then you’re able to push out, to be able to talk about more things. And that’s been a really heartening thing about my life, actually.
ALAN CUMMING -
I usually can find a way to do a character to make it real and work. But sometimes it’s a struggle sustaining that, because there’s such a level of personal involvement and personal, physical, and emotional distraughtness.
ALAN CUMMING -
I was so scared of going back to the theatre after Hamlet. I didn’t know if I’d do a play again because I was afraid of the power of it.
ALAN CUMMING -
So if I’m swirling around on some wires, talking to Fred Flintstone, I make it the funnest I can. I also want to be good at it. I don’t want to be a crap cartoon character. I want to be proud I’m a vitamin!
ALAN CUMMING -
The thing with film and theater is that you always know the story so you can play certain cues in each scene with the knowledge that you know where the story’s going to end and how it’s going to go. But on television nobody knows what’s going to happen, even the writers.
ALAN CUMMING -
My mum always told me I was precious, while my dad always told me I was worthless. I think that’s a good grounding for a balanced life.
ALAN CUMMING -
If you are a cabaret artist and you are mostly singing other people’s songs, you’re asking them to rethink a song, listen to it in a different way. The most impact you can have while asking them to re-listen to a song is if it’s a song they know very well.
ALAN CUMMING -
I was horrified when Richard Chamberlain and Rupert Everett said gay actors should stay in the closet. They were saying to people that they should live a lie and not be liberated, to live in fear of being found out.
ALAN CUMMING -
Kids are more genuine. When they come up and want to talk to you, they don’t have an agenda. It’s more endearing and less piercing to your aura.
ALAN CUMMING