Bill Duke:
“Acting is not pretending. Acting is becoming.”
(Arranged by Carmichael Phillips)
“Acting is not pretending. Acting is becoming.”
“If you’re hired to do a job, the director doesn’t hire you to act like that character, the director hires you to become that character.”
“And that’s something that most people don’t understand about acting. Acting…that word is annoying because it means you’re pretending. Acting is not pretending. Acting is becoming. It’s surrendering to the spirit of whatever that character is.”
“There’s a thing called ‘stage fright’. That’s when you’re in the middle. You’ve given part of yourself up to be the character. But your ego and your fear and paranoia is watching how you give it up, and tries to control the shape of that giving up.”
“But real actors like the ones that I adore, the Kate Winslets and the Meryl Streeps and the Denzels and the Sam Jacksons and the Philip Seymour Hoffmanns and the Jeffrey Wrights…”
“If you’re hired to do a job, the director doesn’t hire you to act like that character, the director hires you to become that character.”
“When those people go ‘there’, there’s nobody there except that character. And that’s admirable. It takes courage. And sometimes people don’t understand because sometimes you’re not in control.”
“You’re on a ride. You have to trust. And the person you trust is the director to say, ‘Did I ride right. What do you think?'”
“Because you don’t stand outside and look at your ride. You (just) ride. And that’s what real great actors do.”
(Excerpts from an interview with filmcourage.com)
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