QuoteProject
The camera does not like acting. The camera is only interested in filming behaviour. So you damn well learn your lines until you know them inside out, while standing on your head!
Ben Kingsley
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote emphasizes the importance of authenticity and preparation in acting.

Ben Kingsley highlights that while the camera captures performance, it truly reveals genuine behavior. Actors must fully understand their lines and characters to authentically portray them, suggesting that hard work and a deep connection to the material are essential for effective storytelling in film.

Themes

ActingPreparationAuthenticityPerformanceFilm

In practice

Example use cases

In a drama workshop, a director might use this quote to inspire actors to immerse themselves in their roles.

More from Ben Kingsley

In cinema, the leading player is the director.
Ben KingsleyRead
Somewhere in your career, your work changes. It becomes less anal, less careful and more spontaneous, more to do with the information that your soul carries.
Ben KingsleyRead
When I choose a role it's either because I recognise the man, or that I'm very curious to know him. If I neither recognise nor know him, then it is better that I don't play him.
Ben KingsleyRead
It is better for me to serve a charity as an actor or a voice, rather than at a luncheon being just a celebrity.
Ben KingsleyRead
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.
Ben KingsleyRead
I do remember, as a child, that I always imagined, when I was maybe 6 or 7, my fantasy was that everywhere I went I was being followed by an invisible film crew.
Ben KingsleyRead

Similar quotes

I am a conventional science fiction author. But that said, once your work is published, it no longer belongs to you. It belongs to the readers and they will derive all sorts of interpretations.
Liu CixinRead
Beauty is a manifestation of secret natural laws, which otherwise would have been hidden from us forever.
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead
Suffice to say that the theme (the WHAT of the movie) is going to determine the style (the HOW of the movie).
Sidney LumetRead
I know some things when I start. I know, let's say, that the play is going to be a 1970s or a 1930s play, and it's going to be about a piano, but that's it. I slowly discover who the characters are as I go along.
August WilsonRead
I believe that dance is the oldest, noblest and most cogent of the arts. I believe that dance is the most perfect symbol of the activity of God and His angels. I believe that dance has the power to heal, mentally and physically. I believe that true education in the art of dance is education of the whole man.
Ted ShawnRead
What is drawing? It is working oneself through an invisible iron wall that seems to stand between what one feels and what one can do.
Vincent Van GoghRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.