I like the tragedies way more than the comedies because they’re so universal.
ALAN CUMMINGA sweaty Macbeth with blood on his arms coming in fresh from the battle doesn’t interest me.
More Alan Cumming Quotes
-
-
For example, Americans seem reluctant to take on Shakespeare because you don’t think you’re very good at it – which is rubbish. You’re missing out here.
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 like working on things that are very different and that involve different disguises.
ALAN CUMMING -
Finally, the scariest thing about abuse of any shape or form, is, in my opinion, not the abuse itself, but that if it continues it can begin to feel commonplace and eventually acceptable.
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 -
When you’re on TV, you come into people’s homes. In theater and film, they go to you – to the temple of the cinema or theater. And it’s very different.
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 -
Once in a while it’s good to challenge yourself in a way that’s really daunting.
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 Urban Secrets, I just really liked the idea of wandering around chatting to people.
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 -
I always think about a little gay boy in Wisconsin or a little lesbian in Arkansas seeing someone like me, and if I cannot be open in my life, how on earth can they?
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 -
Performing a one-man Macbeth feels like the greatest challenge.
ALAN CUMMING -
You’ll see Dame Judi Dench in a Bond film, in Shakespeare and then starring in her own sitcom. You never see that here with Meryl Streep.
ALAN CUMMING -
I wouldn’t do my roles if I really hated it. I’ve done things I hated, but I didn’t go into them thinking I would hate them. I want to have fun. I don’t want to go to work and not enjoy it.
ALAN CUMMING -
It’s about how you exist as a person in the world, and the idea that your work is more important than you as a person is a horrible, horrible message.
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 -
Some things are just really difficult to do. That’s what I find hard. 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 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 -
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 -
Sometimes people do you a favour when they drop out of your life.
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 -
It is actually important to do songs they’re familiar with. Also, I love those songs. In a way, I think I’ve changed people’s perceptions of what a cabaret show like this could be.
ALAN CUMMING -
He … knew, in that instant, that his life would not be an easy one-he was different, he looked different, he thought differently.
ALAN CUMMING -
I started to itch to do a play again and ‘Macbeth’ came to the surface in my mind. I never thought I would do it in a conventional way. A sweaty Macbeth with blood on his arms coming in fresh from the battle doesn’t interest me.
ALAN CUMMING