Anthony Hopkins Quotes About Acting

Quotes about: Acting

• If you do things, whether it's acting or music or painting, do it without fear - that's my philosophy. Because nobody can arrest you and put you in jail if you paint badly, so there's nothing to lose.

  Anthony Hopkins

  Philosophy, Jail, Acting

• The art of acting is not to act. Once you show them more, what you show them, in fact is bad acting.

  Anthony Hopkins

  Art, Acting, Facts

• Acting is about listening and reacting. John Wayne was right: Acting is just reacting. You don't have to do much - as long as you stay out of the way of others. That's why it works.

  Anthony Hopkins

  Long, Listening, Acting

  "OSCARS Q&A: Anthony Hopkins". Interview with David Mermelstein, deadline.com. December 30, 2012.

• I don't push my luck. I don't worry about the results and therefore everything seems to work out well. That's something I've learnt over the years. The whole thing about the acting business is that it's a hit-or-miss game so I keep my distance from it.

  Anthony Hopkins

  Distance, Years, Games

• I don't know what acting is, but I enjoy it. I think we ask too many questions of ourselves. We make too much importance of stuff. But I do say to actors when I have taught in classes, or when I sometimes do a talk to a group. I'll say, “If I never acted again, the world wouldn't stop, nor would it stop if I didn't stop acting. That's how important it is. I know it [seems] important when you're young. But I say, “Lighten up. Don't take it all so seriously.” All the gurus and teachers will take your money and run.

  Anthony Hopkins

  Running, Teacher, Thinking

  Interview with Carlo Cavagna, www.aboutfilm.com. January, 2006.

• I don't know what acting is, but I enjoy it.

  Anthony Hopkins

  Acting, Enjoy, Knows

• Acting is just a process of relaxation, actually. Knowing the text so well and trusting that the instinct and the subconscious mind, whatever you want to call it, is going to take over.

  Anthony Hopkins

  Knowing, Relaxation, Mind

  Interview with Katey Rich, www.cinemablend.com.

• Acting's entertainment. It's not brain surgery.

  Anthony Hopkins

  Brain, Theatre, Acting

• Every time I try to retire, or even think of retiring from acting, my agent comes up with a script.

  Anthony Hopkins

  Retirement, Thinking, Trying

• I always distrust the word art when it is applied to acting.

  Anthony Hopkins

  Art, Acting, Distrust

• My weak spot is laziness. I have a lot of weak spots - cookies, croissants; my wife is always lecturing me about this, I tend to put it all down as habit or it's just acting.

  Anthony Hopkins

  Wife, Acting, Weak Spots

  "Anthony Hopkins Talks Fracture". MovieWeb Interview, movieweb.com. April 17, 2007.

• I do the best I can - I know my way around [Russian method acting pioneer] Stanislavski, but I can't take myself seriously like that. I respect people who do it, of course. I just think I'm lucky to still be working at 73. You reach a point in life where you just think, "Show up, do your job, make sure the cheque's on the way," and that's it. I'm not hungry to do anything more, really.

  Anthony Hopkins

  Jobs, Thinking, People

• I hate taxing my mind with analysis. I'm not a good analyst. I cannot talk about acting. I hate talking about it. I hate talking about analyzing.

  Anthony Hopkins

  Hate, Talking, Mind

  "Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Hopkins THOR Interview". MoviesOnline Interview, www.moviesonline.ca. May 2011.

• I've always liked to be a meat and potatoes kind of actor who doesn't believe in any of the highfalutin stuff about acting, so I tend to be a little bit more cynical.

  Anthony Hopkins

  Believe, Cynical, Acting

• Acting is a creative process, and directing and music. I think creative people - and I take myself as a creative person and it doesn't mean you have to be an actor, a musician, or a painter - but I think if you are in a creative profession or a creative business you do have a heightened awareness.

  Anthony Hopkins

  Mean, Thinking, People

• I just wanted to be a composer; I became an actor by default, really. I got a scholarship to a college of music and drama, hoping to take a scholarship in music. But I ended up as an acting student, so I've stuck with that for the last 50-odd years.

  Anthony Hopkins

  Drama, College, Years

• Acting is constricted because you have the lines. But I improvise with it and what I learn on the set. I improvise rhythms and just changes.

  Anthony Hopkins

  Acting, Lines, Rhythm

  "Anthony Hopkins Interview THE RITE; Plus Updates on THOR, 360, Composing Music, Painting, and a lot More". Interview with Steve 'Frosty' Weintarub, collider.com. January 26, 2011.

• I tried acting, liked it, and stuck with it. I saw it as the way I would keep that promise to myself of getting back at those who had made my school life a misery.

  Anthony Hopkins

  School, Promise, Acting

• I used to be a bit obsessed by acting but not anymore. I do enjoy acting but I probably enjoy it more now because it's easier. I can't work in the theater because to me it's too serious. It's like being in prison for me. I admire people that can do that but I can't do it. I'd rather live my life and do a bit of acting in between.

  Anthony Hopkins

  People, Acting, Serious

• If I spent all my time criticising myself, I wouldn't be able to function. There are actors who theorise till the cows come home. I haven't the patience for them. It's maybe shallow, but that's why I'll never be part of the acting set.

  Anthony Hopkins

  Home, Acting, Actors

• There's no truth in acting, it's all a trick, because you go on stage in front of sets, you're on film - it's all a trick. I'm making it sound very - I really am demystifying it, but what I try to do, what I do, and I hope effectively, is to create a reality as if it is happening now, that you're fishing for words out of the air.

  Anthony Hopkins

  Reality, Air, Fishing

• I found a way into the acting business because I thought, well, it beats working for a living, and so that's what I do. But I still feel like a bit of a stranger in it all. I've never really belonged anywhere.

  Anthony Hopkins

  Acting, Way, Stranger

  "Actor Sir Anthony Hopkins". The Tavis Smiley Show, www.pbs.org. January 27, 2011.

• I watched a film with a very famous, great, great actor, I won't mention his name because everyone loves his memory, but I thought, "God he was acting a lot." Great actor, but nonstop acting. Wall to wall, fitted-carpet acting.

  Anthony Hopkins

  Wall, Memories, Names

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