“I think the actor has a tribal role as the archetypal story teller. I think there was a time when the storyteller, the priest, the healer, were all one person in one body. That person used to weave stories at night around a small fire to keep the tribe from being terrified that sun had gone down.” ThinkingPersonsStoriesBodyUsedNightActorsActingHealingRolesSunGoneFireStorytellingPriestsTerrifiedTribesStorytellerHealerPriesthoodArchetypeWeaving Author:Ben Kingsley
“I think that Shakespeare had his male side and his female side extremely well developed. And this was a great quality of the Elizabethan, all-around Renaissance man. They were not afraid of their male side and their female side co-existing. This somewhere along the line got lost. And then it got misunderstood.” ThinkingMenWellsLostSidesLinesQualityFemaleMalesNot AfraidMisunderstoodRenaissanceGreat QualitiesRenaissance ManElizabethan Author:Ben Kingsley
“In order to inhabit a villain, you mustn't care what the audience think of you. That's not why you are there. You mustn't care for a second whether the audience likes you or dislikes you. Your villain has to be way beyond that.” ThinkingWayCareOrderAudienceLikesDislikeVillainThink Of You Author:Ben Kingsley
“My wife and I have now founded Lavender Pictures. If one has one's own company, there are very few surprises, but there's still the actual thrill of trying to get these projects off the ground. We're meeting with some measure of success. Always, now and at any stage of my career, I'm open to ambush, but there have been the most extraordinary set of coincidences, which continues through my journey, and I find it thrilling. Often, out of left field and quite randomly, comes a project and I think, "My god, there you are!" It's quite beautiful, really.” ThinkingTryingBeautifulWifeJourneyMeetingsSurpriseExtraordinaryMy WifeCoincidenceMeasure Of Success Author:Ben Kingsley
“If one is going to offer children stories that underneath the story must be something that will inform, stimulate and guide, I love to be on board. I think anything that resonates with history, as does The Jungle Book and Watership Down, reflects patterns of behavior, power struggles, deprivation, migration, survival, joy, love, betrayal, and all of these things. It's tragic that children are encouraged to ignore history. We ignore history and any literature that is historically based in history. Even though both of those films involved animals, of course they reflect human behavior.” ThinkingChildrenBookFilmJoyLiteratureLove IsAnimalStruggleBehaviorSurvivalBetrayalTragicHuman BehaviorJunglePower Struggle Author:Ben Kingsley
“I don't honestly think people know what acting is.” PeopleThinkingKnowsActingHonestly Author:Ben Kingsley
“I think I'm more bonded, emotionally and in a craft sense, to films that tell extraordinary stories about extraordinary destinies.” ThinkingStoriesFilmDestinyExtraordinaryCrafts Author:Ben Kingsley
“I think if I were to go back on stage I might be in great danger of acting.” IfsThinkingMightActingStageDanger Author:Ben Kingsley
“I think Romeo and Juliet is uplifting. That's how much a son wishes to avenge his father. That is how much two young people can love each other.” PeopleThinkingTwoYoungFatherWishSonUpliftingLove Each OtherJuliet Author:Ben Kingsley
“I think that most actors, and they're a very strange lot actors, very strange people, but I think that they attempt to keep in touch with the child.” PeopleThinkingChildrenActorsStrange Author:Ben Kingsley
“I think the cinema you like has more to do with silence, and the theater you like has more to do with language.” ThinkingLanguageSilenceQuietTheaterCinema Author:Ben Kingsley
“I don't do anything that would ever come across as advice or suggestion, but it's just part of a debate. Like, "I would like to try this," or "Let me do another one with more stillness, let me emphasize that." Rather than "I think you should emphasize this, I think" - you know, I don't impose choices.” ThinkingTryingChoicesAdviceLet MeDebateStillness Author:Ben Kingsley
“I think that most actors attempt to keep in touch with the child.” ThinkingChildrenActorsActing Author:Ben Kingsley
“I think that all of us either lose touch with the child inside us or try and hold onto it because it so precious to us and it's such an extraordinary part of our lives.” ThinkingTryingChildrenLosesOur LivesExtraordinary Author:Ben Kingsley
“I think that you can fall into bad habits with comedy... It's a tightrope to stay true to the character, true to the irony, and allow the irony to happen.” ThinkingCharacterHappensFallComedyHabitIronyBad HabitsStay True Author:Ben Kingsley
“You can throw away the privilege of acting, but that would be such a shame. The tribe has elected you to tell its story. You are the shaman/healer, that's what the storyteller is, and I think it's important for actors to appreciate that. Too often actors think it's all about them, when in reality it's all about the audience being able to recognize themselves in you. The more you pull away from the public, the less power you have on screen.” ThinkingImportantStoriesRealityWould BeAbleActorsActingAudienceAppreciateShamePrivilegeTheatreScreensTribesStorytellerHealer Author:Ben Kingsley
“What is chess, do you think? Those who play for fun or not at all dismiss it as a game. The ones who devote their lives to it for the most part insist that it's a science. It's neither. Bobby Fischer got underneath it like no one before and found at its center, art.” ThinkingArtPlayFoundGamesFunChessFischer Author:Ben Kingsley
“I think that various styles and methods and approaches are an invention of people who don't understand the process of acting and who try very hard to label things.” PeopleThinkingTryingHardProcessActingStyleApproachMethodVariousInventionLabels Author:Ben Kingsley
“I'm convinced that had I not changed my name, I don't think I would have had quite the same career curve that I eventually had.” ThinkingNamesCareersChangedConvincedProfessionCurves Author:Ben Kingsley
