Actors are responsible to the people we play.
Interpretation
Actors have a duty to authentically portray the characters and stories they bring to life on screen.
In this quote, Philip Seymour Hoffman emphasizes that actors hold a significant responsibility to the audience and the characters they embody. They must approach their roles with sincerity and integrity, as their performances can influence perceptions and understanding of the narratives they tell, ultimately connecting with the audience on a deeper level.
In practice
When discussing the ethical implications of storytelling in film classes.
I think I would have drank myself to death, literally, if I didn't just stop, once and for all when I did. I am not ever going to preach to anyone about drugs or drinking. But, for me, when they were around, I had no self control.
Study, find all the good teachers and study with them, get involved in acting to act, not to be famous or for the money. Do plays. It's not worth it if you are just in it for the money. You have to love it.
Well, in the theater, I think you're actually more responsible for what is going on onstage as a director than you are in film.
I've had to make the transition from sweeping in for 15 minutes, doing my stuff and clearing out, to carrying a movie for the duration - in a dress.
I had insecurities and fears like everybody does, and I got over it. But I was interested in the parts of me that struggled with those things.
I didn't have any idea that I would be able to have a career in film.
The attitude that nature is chaotic and that the artist puts order into it is a very absurd point of view, I think. All that we can hope for is to put some order into ourselves.
All of my knowledge, of both science and religion, I incorporate into the classical tradition of my painting.
There's an idea that it's hard to be a woman artist. People assume that women have fewer opportunities, less power. But it's not any harder to be a woman artist than to be a male artist. We all take what we are given and use the parts of ourselves that feed the work. We make our way. Photographers, men and women, are particularly lucky. Photography lets you find yourself. It is a passport to people and places and to possibilities.
People say to me, 'You seem to have made this conscious decision to do independent films'. In reality, I haven't. After each movie, I always think, 'how different can I possibly be? Is this going to challenge me, is this going to inspire me, and is this going to make me love my job more than I already do?'
And they three passed over the white sands, between the rocks, silent as the shadows.
If the world were clear, art would not exist.
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