“I always wonder about people's history and their lives, especially people that are a little bit more distant, who obviously have had some kind of a thing and you know there's some reason why they're not able to connect. It's not because they don't want to. They don't have the ability.” PeopleKnowsWantKindLittlesReasonAbleBitsAbilityWonderLittle BitReason Why Author:Annette Bening
“In a film, if you can capture what's going on underneath, you can begin to make a connection between the character and the people watching it.” PeopleIfsCharacterFilmConnectionsCapture Author:Annette Bening
“I fall in love with all the people I'm working with, women, directors, everybody. As actors, that's actually one of the real pleasures of the work. You have this weird opportunity to get unnaturally close to people very quickly.” PeopleRealFallActorsOpportunityPleasureDirectorsFalling In LoveI Fall In Love Author:Annette Bening
“I had never met an actress or an actor when I thought that I might like to be one. I had never been around people in show business or from the theater or from movies or anything. And I say that as an encouragement, I don't know some people who want to be doing what I'm doing or be involved in film. You don't have to be from it to get interested and get involved. I certainly wasn't.” PeopleFilmEncouragementShow BusinessGet Involved Author:Annette Bening
“Movie is a near art form. It's showbiz and people want to make money. And generally people are financing things because they think it will make money whether it's a cable news show, a cable show, or a feature film, or whatever it is. So that's the part of it that drives it, I think, is really the dollar.” PeopleThinkingArtFilmMaking MoneyFinancingShowbiz Author:Annette Bening
“There's a lot of different ways of going about teaching acting and ultimately you have to just kind of create your own. You have to be the author of your own acting school in a way. I mean you can take from this and this and you can watch people and you can watch performances on the stage. You can watch movies. But ultimately you have to figure it out for yourself.” PeopleKindMeanDifferentSchoolActingTeaching Author:Annette Bening
“I love watching people listen. And on film often some of the best moments if you think about favorite moments on film, often the person isn't even talking.” PeopleThinkingMomentsFilm Author:Annette Bening
“A lot of acting is working with your own psyche in order to allow yourself to be open and reveal yourself. But then of course there's a healthy part of you that says, "Well, don't do that." You know, you're going to be in front of people. You could look foolish. You could get it wrong. You could be too big or too small or not realistic or whatever those things are. People might criticize you. There's all kinds of reasons not to be open. But you do want to be open.” PeopleKindReasonActingHealthyFoolishAll KindsCriticizeRealistic Author:Annette Bening
“It's always tricky to watch yourself, always. When I first had to watch myself, it was really hard because I'd done quite a few plays and I've never seen myself. So I was professional but I'd never watched myself. So I was like hearing you know... I'm sure you guys are all much more familiar with that because everybody has a phone, and everyone's taking pictures of themselves and making movies of themselves. And so people are more accustomed to it now. So I had to get used to it because there's a lot to be learned, of course, as an actor. When you watch yourself, you learn a lot.” PeopleDoneGuyFamiliarTrickyTaking Pictures Author:Annette Bening
“Sometimes people don't rehearse at all, but you might have had a chance to rehearse for a few days, or even more than that. Then in the moment when the camera's running is the only time it matters. So whatever you've discussed or thought about or discussed with the director, the other actors, hopefully there's a part of the experience that you've left open so that only in that moment the camera catches it. That's of course the hardest thing to do because everything is planned and you have thought about it in advance.” PeopleSometimesMomentsRunningChanceHopefully Author:Annette Bening
“Some people say talent is energy and that's a very interesting way of thinking about it. In other words, people with talent have a lot of energy.” PeopleThinkingEnergyInterestingTalentVery Interesting Author:Annette Bening
“People always ask us women about how we balance our lives. Rarely do they ever ask men this but we are asked this and it makes a lot of sense - balance, right? It sounds right. And of course you do have to balance because otherwise you'd go crazy. And you do have to find ways of doing things in a sensible manner, raising children and all those choices. But then there's a part of creativity which is irrational and which is obsessive and then that's also part of what we do. So, I don't think that's a bad thing. I think that's part of what makes someone good.” PeopleThinkingMenChildrenChoicesCreativityCrazyBalanceAsk MeSensibleIrrationalRaising ChildrenObsessive Author:Annette Bening
“Most of the people that I've worked with when shooting films that I really respect, there is a point which you do become obsessed in a good way. And because it's a collaborative medium, you're not by yourself in a room tearing your hair out, you're in a room with a bunch of people. And we're all tearing our hairs out, or trying to get something right, or caring deeply about something. But that's fun.” PeopleTryingFilmFunCaringObsessed Author:Annette Bening
“You read something and you know it's not there yet. There's a little section here that... this part's good but that is a little not, it doesn't quite work. That doesn't quite work. That's easy. To say, "OK, now, this is what I think will fix it." That's harder. And most people can tell you what's wrong with something. Very few people can say what they would do to fix it.” PeopleThinkingEasy Author:Annette Bening
“You end up loving every character that you play but a lot of the people I've played, I should just say for myself, I played, I wouldn't necessarily want to continue playing them. I've done them. It's like going on a trip. You go, you're amazed, you're glad you're there but you're glad to get home. And that's how I feel most of the time.” PeopleDoneCharacterHomeGladAmazed Author:Annette Bening
“You can't ask the guy with the checkbook to always be the person. So, we actors have to try. And believe me, it's not just young people who are struggling with this, trying to get things of substance made because of the proliferation of technology that it's just harder and harder to get things that really matter made. But they are being done and you just have to fight the good fight and try to... if you have something that you have written, you have to do your best to try to get it made in whatever way you can.” PeopleTryingBelieveDoneGuyFightingTechnologyStruggleBelieve In MeGood Fight Author:Annette Bening
“Right now, I love the fact that I have so many opportunities, but I know this privileged position cannot last. That doesn't mean that I'll stop working. I picture myself as an old actress doing cameos in films with people saying: "Isn't that that Bening woman?"” PeopleKnowsMeanFactsLastsFilmOpportunityPositionRight NowActressesPrivilegedCameos Author:Annette Bening
