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Alan Arkin

Alan Arkin Books

Actor

Alan Arkin is an American actor renowned for his performances in film and television. Born on March 26, 1934, he has had a career spanning over half a century, during which he has won numerous awards, including an Academy Award.

An Improvised Life: A Memoir

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An Improvised Life: A Memoir: Library E...

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“Two-thirds of American movies are extensions of commercials — they tell you how to feel and they tell you how to think — rather than letting you figure it out on your own," said Arkin, who has been acting since the 1960s and won the supporting actor Oscar for "Little Miss Sunshine." "Ben treats the audience like adults. He doesn't shove you into endless close-ups, and the music doesn't tell you what's going to happen next, which is something I hate in American movies.”

Cia See Argo Lester Siegel Affleck Arkin Matt Damon

Book:An Improvised Life: A Memoir: Library Edition

Source: An Improvised Life: A Memoir: Library Edition

“TV has taken reflection out of the human condition. People didn't use to have a ready answer for everything, whether they knew something about it or not. People think they have to have an answer for everything because the guys on TV have an answer for everything. But it's bullsh**t! Reflection is crucial.”

People Thinking Humans Use Guy Answers Taken Conditions Television Ready Tvs Reflection Crucial Human Condition

Author:Alan Arkin

“Truth is always unfolding. It's not an absolute.”

Truth Truth Is Absolutes Unfolding Absolute Truth

Author:Alan Arkin

“I read somewhere that some people believe that the entire universe is a matrix of living thought. And I said, "Man, if that's not a definition of God, I don't know what is.”

People Ifs Knows Men Believe Said Universe Definitions

Author:Alan Arkin

“For many years my acting came from a place of surmounting some enormous obstacle, confronting some stern and faceless judge who would condemn me to a pit of hell if I didn't achieve the "zone," if even for a moment. Not a particularly happy place to work from.”

Ifs Years Moments Acting Hell Achieve Judging Obstacles Enormous Zone Pits Confronting Faceless Happy Place

Book:An Improvised Life: A Memoir

Source: An Improvised Life: A Memoir

“Creativity means learning where the rules exist, and then breaking them! Saying, "It's better this way." But you have to know the rules in order to break them with any grace.”

Knows Way Mean Order Break Creativity Grace

Author:Alan Arkin

“Hollywood is a strange place. The class structure here is more rigid than almost anyplace I've ever experienced. It's made more difficult by the fact that it's constantly changing. You never know what class you belong to unless you're one of the two or three people that have been in the same echelon for a long, long time.”

People Knows Long Has Beens Made Two Facts Three Difficult Class Strange Long Time Hollywood Structure Strange Places

Author:Alan Arkin

“I'm an actor. My life as an actor depends on who sends me what. I'm just taking the best stuff that I can find that's sent my way, regardless of how big or little the paycheck is. I don't want to work for scale anymore. I'm at a point now where, no matter how good something is, I'm not going to kill myself and end up in the hole.”

Way Want Littles I Can Ends Matter Bigs Actors Stuff Depends Scales Holes My Way Paychecks

Author:Alan Arkin

“Is it possible to have an endless series of successes without falling on our faces? I suppose it is, but I think it would entail doing the same things over and over again without taking chances, without taking risks or exploring our limits, without finding out what we can and can't do.”

Thinking Faces Fall Chance Risk Limits Findings Series Endless Exploring Take A Chance Taking Risks

Book:An Improvised Life: A Memoir

Source: An Improvised Life: A Memoir

“I gotta keep busy. I'm not happy unless I'm working on two, three things.”

Two Three Busy Three Things Not Happy Keep Busy

Author:Alan Arkin

“That's what we're all doing, all the time, whether we know it or not. Whether we like it or not. Creating something on the spur of the moment with the materials at hand. We might just as well let the rest of it go, join the party, and dance our hearts out.”

Knows Wells Heart Moments Hands Might Party Materials Creating Spurs Creating Something Spur Of The Moment

Book:An Improvised Life: A Memoir

Source: An Improvised Life: A Memoir

“Improvisation sometimes seemed more like jazz than acting, like verbal jazz, with the actors playing a theme back and forth, and then introducing another theme, incorporating it, somehow trying to work their way all together to a meaning of some kind, or at least a conclusion.”

Way Trying Kind Sometimes Together Actors Acting Jazz Conclusion Theme Introducing Back And Forth Improvisation Incorporating

Author:Alan Arkin

“I don't think it does the audience any good to know what I do to prepare. It keeps it more of a surprise. I don't feel like it has to be a mystery.”

Thinking Knows Feels Doe Audience Mystery Surprise

Author:Alan Arkin

“I played guitar. I've always considered myself an actor, but I wasn't making a living as an actor. So I was in a couple of folk groups that managed to keep me in underwear and burritos.”

Actors Groups Couple Guitar Folks Underwear Making A Living Burritos

Author:Alan Arkin

“Two-thirds of American movies are extensions of commercials -- they tell you how to feel and they tell you how to think -- rather than letting you figure it out on your own.”

Thinking Feels Two Figures Thirds Extensions American Movie

Author:Alan Arkin

“You know what Andy Warhol's sole contribution to this country has been? He made Campbell's Soup a household word.”

Knows Has Beens Made Country Contribution Sole Household Soup Warhol

Author:Alan Arkin

“You can begin to see an amalgamation of cultures, the real beginning of one world. Ten years ago, it would have been impossible to imagine a Cockney singing group with a Southern Negro style and Indian and electronic music. I wonder if people have even noticed what a tremendous cultural signal the Beatles are.”

People Ifs World Years Has Beens Real Culture Wonder Imagine Impossible Groups Style Ten Singing Years Ago Indian Southern Signals Electronic Music Cockneys Amalgamation

Author:Alan Arkin

“There's a familiarity that sometimes shocks and annoys the hell out of me. People want a relationship with you that they haven't earned.”

People Want Sometimes Hell Havens Shock Annoying Familiarity

Author:Alan Arkin

“[The business is] more corporate and more formulaic and less experiential.”

Author:Alan Arkin

“I don't love the business. I never wanted to be a part of it. I don't think any actor does. Most of the time, I've been really fortunate to work with people who are really fun to work with. It doesn't mean we don't take it seriously, but no one is under the delusion (that we're) bringing world peace.”

People Thinking World Mean Doe Wanted Actors Fun Fortunate Delusion

Author:Alan Arkin

“If you want to be an actor and you love acting, you can do it whether you're doing something else or not. You can be connected with community theater or make your own little movies. But, if you want to be a movie star, you've got a tough road ahead of you.”

Ifs Want Littles Actors Stars Can Do Community Acting Tough Theater Connected You Can Do It Movie Star

Author:Alan Arkin

“I've always considered myself an actor, but I wasn't making a living as an actor.”

Actors Making A Living Burritos

Author:Alan Arkin

“My favorite kind of film is serious comedy. Comedy with serious underpinning.”

Kind Film Comedy Serious My Favorite

Author:Alan Arkin

“Things are never going to turn out how you think they will.”

Author:Alan Arkin

“Every physicist knows that things connect with each other. To isolate things is not the way the universe works - winning best actor is arbitrary.”

Knows Way Universe Actors Winning Physicist Arbitrary

Author:Alan Arkin

“A product is most easily sold when it has an identity. So they wrap you all up and put a label on you. And then that's what you have to be. But what I'm looking for is the opportunity to explore what I can do, probing the limits, learning.”

I Can Opportunity Can Do Identity Products Limits Labels Wraps Probing

Author:Alan Arkin

“'Catch-22' was a huge failure, and it rubbed off on everybody connected to it. I had a bunch of lean years where I had to do things, a lot of which I wasn't wildly enthusiastic about.”

Years Huge Connected Bunch Enthusiastic

Author:Alan Arkin

“But one of the things I learned from improvising is that all of life is an improvisation, whether you like it or not. Some of the greatest scientific discoveries of the 20th century came out of people dropping things.”

People Life Is Century Discovery 20th Century Dropping Improvisation You Like It Improvising Scientific Discovery Dropping Things

Author:Alan Arkin

“I don't live in L.A. on purpose because I don't wanna be immersed in that. I have to have a real life, with real people, in order to inform what I'm doing; otherwise, it just becomes the snake eating its own tail. Vampirism.”

People Real Purpose Order Eating Real Life Tails Snakes Vampirism

Author:Alan Arkin

“I don't believe in competitions between artists. This is insane. Who has the authority to say someone is better?”

Believe Artist Authority Competition Don't Believe Insane

Author:Alan Arkin

“I had a hard time treating my field as if it’s horse racing, putting actors in competition against each other. I see how the industry and the studios feel it’s important, but I don’t really have a feeling for being in competition. I want to feel sympathetic and close to others, not opposed to them.”

Ifs Want Feels Important Hard Feelings Actors Fields Industry Horse Competition Studios Hard Times Racing Sympathetic Horse Racing

Author:Alan Arkin

“I don't believe there's anything in life you can't go back and fix. The ancient Vedas - the oldest Hindu philosophy - and modern science agree that time is an illusion. If that's true, there's no such thing as a past or a future - it's all one huge now. So what you fix now affects the past and the future.”

Ifs Believe Philosophy Past Modern Huge Illusion Agree Don't Believe Ancient Modern Science Anything In Life Vedas

Author:Alan Arkin

“All I can say is if the part doesn't delight me in some way, or I can't feel any compassion for it, I just can't do it.”

Ifs Way Feels I Can Compassion Delight

Author:Alan Arkin

“Marriage requires searing honesty at all costs. I learned that from my third wife.”

Wife Relationship Honesty Cost Husband Thirds Boyfriend

Author:Alan Arkin

“Either you're growing or you're decaying; there's no middle ground. If you're standing still, you're decaying.”

Ifs Stills Growing Middle Standing Middle Ground Standing Still

Author:Alan Arkin

“I used to watch the world as if it was a performance and I would realize that certain things that people did moved me, and certain things didn't move me, and I tried to analyze, even at that age, six and seven and eight, why I was moved by certain things they did”

People Ifs World Age Moving Used Certain Realizing Watches Six Performances Moved Seven Eight

Author:Alan Arkin

“I know that if I can't move people, then I have no business being an actor.”

People Ifs Knows I Can Moving Actors

Author:Alan Arkin

“What I've learned about teaching is to refer back to the root of that word, which is educo, which means "to pull from." Education does not mean jamming information into somebody's head. Rather, it's that ancient idea that all knowledge is within us; to teach is to help somebody pull it out of themselves.”

Mean Doe Ideas Helping Teach Teaching Information Roots Ancient I've Learned

Author:Alan Arkin

“No matter how much time you spend reading books or following your intuition, you're gonna screw it up. Fifty times. You can't do parenting right.”

Book Matter Reading Following Intuition Fifty Reading Books Screws

Author:Alan Arkin

“No matter what you do or where you are, you're going to be missing out on something.”

Matter Missing No Matter What Where You Are Missing Out

Author:Alan Arkin

“It's murder to doubt yourself in life. It took until I was 45 to get to that point. As hard as it is in your work, it's harder in your life. But it can be done.”

Hard Done Doubt Harder Murder Working It

Author:Alan Arkin

“If I'm doing a fake movie, it's gonna be a fake hit.”

Author:Alan Arkin

About the Author

Born: March 26, 1934
Known for: Actor
Quotes: 42

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An Improvised Life: A MemoirRelated source material

An Improvised Life: A Memoir: Library EditionRelated source material

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