Actors are always afraid of ending up like overcooked old soup over time. What's risky is that you don't realize this has happened, and you just get thick and boring. Going abroad was like getting a new pot to cook everything again. I was a rookie, a new self. And they were asking me, 'Who are you?'
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the fear of stagnation and the rejuvenating power of new experiences.
Ken Watanabe reflects on the fear actors have of becoming stale and uninteresting over time, likening this to being overcooked soup. He shares his personal experience of going abroad, which revitalized his creativity and self-identity, allowing him to rediscover who he was as an artist.
In practice
In a motivational speech about pursuing new experiences to avoid stagnation.
I can't become another person, no matter how much makeup I wear. Something of your own past, your experiences and personality always comes out in the role, and that makes acting very risky. You're exposed. You always wonder if you can pull it off.
Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.
Well, in the '80s and '70s, with the exception of Sidney Poitier and Brock Peters, maybe Ivan Dixon, if you were as big and black as I am, you were a bad guy. Simple. Because in real life, I scare people.
The approach to style is by way of plainness, simplicity, orderliness, sincerity.
An opera begins long before the curtain goes up and ends long after it has come down. It starts in my imagination, it becomes my life, and it stays part of my life long after I've left the opera house.
The bartenders are the regular band of Jack, and the heavenly drummer who looks up to the sky with blue eyes, with a beard, is wailing beer-caps of bottles and jamming on the cash register and everything is going to the beat - It's the beat generation, its béat, it's the beat to keep, it's the beat of the heart, it's being beat and down in the world and like oldtime lowdown.
Whether it's a very dramatic part or a comical role, I feel I need to create the same thing: a full-fledged, three-dimensional character that the audience can identify with.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.