“When I'm on set, I do whatever I can to find my focus. One thing that stays pretty consistent for all my jobs is, I listen to a lot of music while I'm working. Because when there's all this stuff going on, for me to be able to put on headphones and listen to music helps me keep my focus,. A big part of creating a character for me is finding the general palette for what kind of music I'm going to be listening to.” KindI CanCharacterHelpingBigsAbleJobsStuffFocusOne ThingListeningFindingsCreatingHelp MeConsistentListening To MusicPaletteHeadphones Author:Joseph Gordon-Levitt
“Most of actor's work is done at home, in your hotel room, in the wee hours of the morning thinking and reading and feeling, walking around and listening to music. It really just because an internal exercise, whatever skills. It's great if you have to learn something new for a gig and designing a character physically is always fun but it does become an internal exercise in separating the wheat from the chaff.” IfsThinkingDoeDoneCharacterFeelingsHomeReadingActorsFunHoursRoomsMorningDesignListeningWalkingExerciseSkillsInternalsHotelSomething NewListening To MusicGigsWheatSeparatingHotel Rooms Author:Colin Farrell
“But being able to talk to so many patients from so many walks of life gives a tremendous window into people's lives. This is not to say I want to write about individual patients, but I think that after listening to the concerns of people who are so different from me, I can more realistically portray characters who are so different from me.” PeopleThinkingWantGivingWritingI CanDifferentCharacterAbleIndividualWalksListeningConcernWindowPatientWalks Of Life Author:Daniel Mason
“The main thing about improvising is listening so if something happens that wasn't expected and you know your character, you know what has to happen in this scene, you can react to that in a way that's honest and it might take you in a different direction to go to the same place.” IfsKnowsWayDifferentCharacterMightHappensHonestListeningSceneExpectedThings HappenDifferent DirectionsImprovising Author:Vince Vaughn
“I do have shout-outs to bands and musicians I like in my books, but the musical references can be misunderstood. Often, I have people listening to music that I would never listen to personally, because it fits and defines their character.” PeopleBookCharacterListeningFitBandMusicianMusicalMisunderstoodListening To Music Author:George Pelecanos
“Improvisation, the main thing is it teaches you to be in the moment and present in the moment and be reactive and proactive for what's going on. Someone gives you something - a lot of actors are a little shut off, so they're just doing, "This is my character, these are my lines, I'm going to just send it to you then you send whatever you're sending." Improvisation teaches you to really be listening.” GivingLittlesMomentsCharacterActorsLinesTeachListeningImprovisationProactive Author:John C. Reilly
“Improv is more than just spitting out a bunch of funny stuff that's unrelated to the material. You have to stay in character, you have to react and respond as the character you're trying to play. You have to service the story, and I think improv training has helped with my listening, responding, and my audition technique. It's sounds so silly, but it's true. Because not only do you improvise during the audition, but once you get the part, they'll say, "Throw away everything. Just improv this scene. Do whatever you want." Someone could panic if they're not used to doing something like that.” IfsThinkingWantTryingPlayCharacterStoriesUsedStuffSoundMaterialsListeningSceneTrainingTechniqueSillyBunchPanicAuditionsRespondingDo Whatever You WantFunny Stuff Author:Wendi McLendon-Covey
“Listening is the key to total concentration. You listen as the character would listen, closing the door on everything else. Then you are ready to respond.” CharacterDoorsReadyKeysListeningConcentrationClosing Author:Jean Stapleton
“One of the tricks is to have the exposition conveyed in a scene of conflict, so that a character is forced to say things you want the audience to know - as, for example, if he is defending himself against somebody's attack, his words of defense seem Justified even though his words are actually expository words. Something appears to be happening, so the audience believes it is witnessing a scene (which it is), not listening to expository speeches. Humor is another way of getting exposition across.” IfsKnowsWayWantBelieveCharacterSeemsAudienceExampleListeningSceneConflictSpeechHappeningsDefenseTricksJustifiedAnother Way Author:Ernest Lehman
“"Someone": I understood that this was a character who in her own life her voice hadn't much been heard and in literature her life isn't much heard. For me, it was resisting all the more appealing characters and listening to the voice that hadn't been much heard from.” CharacterLiteratureVoiceHeardListeningUnderstoodResisting Author:Alice McDermott
“I think that is so interesting. It is le Carré. There must be so much of him when he was younger. He's an interesting character. I don't want to say the word "passive" because there is something very active about the way he is passive, if that makes any sense: the nature of his watching and his listening is active. It is always so alive because he is, essentially, a spy.” IfsThinkingWayWantCharacterInterestingAliveListeningActivePassiveSpyInteresting Characters Author:Tom Hiddleston
“It is obvious when an actor has put work into prep and research and understanding their character, and they're making choices, because that's what happens when you take the time - or have the time - to really think about the material, but that only accounts for about 60% of what happens on the day. When you're in the moment, you throw it all away. Well, you don't throw it all away, but it's in you now, and everything is reactionary in that moment and you have to be honest and present and listening.” ThinkingWellsMomentsCharacterHappensChoicesActorsUnderstandingHonestMaterialsListeningResearchAccountsObviousBeing HonestThat MomentReactionariesMaking ChoicesPreps Author:Logan Lerman
“I would draw my own comic book characters listening to metal. The drawing and music kind of went hand in hand.” KindBookCharacterHandsMy OwnListeningDrawsDrawingComicMetalsComic BookHand In HandBook CharactersComic Book Characters Author:Alan Robert
“I guess it's one thing to play a character and relate to a character, and it's a lot closer to me than people might think. They are obviously watching a person with another name. But when they are listening to my music, it's way more me and my story and my words . . . that is the main difference in that.” PeopleThinkingCharacterListening Author:Hailee Steinfeld
“The one nice thing about doing a character for a long time is, you begin to feel more comfortable, and you are thinking less and behaving more. It's always best not to be thinking a hell of a lot while you're acting, because you want it to be as spontaneous as possible, not too intellectual. Just behaving and listening to other people who you're doing scenes with. I always like the latter when it looks easy, even though it may not be.” PeopleThinkingLongCharacterEasyActingHellNiceListeningSceneIntellectualSpontaneous Author:Gary Cole
“There is nothing new, from Greek mythology to Shakespeare to every romcom ever made, we're just reimagining the same 12 story plots over and over again - so what makes people keep watching and listening? It's all about the character.” PeopleMadeCharacterStoriesListeningMythologyGreekPlotGreek MythologyNothing NewReimagining Author:Jeremy Renner