Michael Caine: “Listening is really what acting is all about”

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  • Michael Caine:

    “Listen and react”

    (arranged by AM Staff)


    Listening is really what acting is all about, for movies.


    “Listening is really what acting is all about, for movies. It’s not like the theatre. It’s an entirely different situation.”

    “When I was in the theatre, I was inadvertently given some advice by a theatre producer. And he said to me, ‘What are you doing, Michael?'”

    “And I said, “Nothing, sir.”

    “He said, “What? What do you mean, nothing?”

    “I said, “I haven’t got [any lines] to say.”

    “He said, “What do you mean, you haven’t got anything to say?”

    “He says, “Of course, you’ve got things to say. You’ve got wonderful things to say. But you sit there and listen, think of these extraordinary things to say, and then, decide not to say them. THAT’S what you’re doing!”

    “And that is the greatest piece of advice I could give to someone who wants to act in movies, is: to LISTEN AND REACT.”

    (Michael Caine, quoted from his Acting in Film Master Class)


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