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.
Interpretation
True identity cannot be concealed by external appearances; one's inner self will always reveal itself.
In this quote, Ken Watanabe expresses the inherent risk involved in acting, emphasizing that no matter the facade created through makeup or performance, the essence of a person's experiences and personality will inevitably shine through. This notion underscores the vulnerability actors face as they delve into roles, always questioning their ability to authentically embody a character while remaining true to themselves.
In practice
During a speech at a theater conference to discuss the challenges of acting.
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?'
Art has a will of its own. It has nothing to do with the taste of the moment or what's expected of you. That's a formula for dead art, or fashionable art.
In the big picture I write for an audience of people I've never met. By the final draft I'm looking for anything in the prose that's prospectively boring to strangers.
In the earliest ages science was poetry, as in the later poetry has become science.
Writing begins in the body, it is the music of the body, and even if the words have meaning, can sometimes have meaning, the music of the words is where the meanings begin....Writing as a lesser form of dance.
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.
What concerns me when I work, is not whether the picture is a landscape, or whether it's pastoral, or whether somebody will see a sunset in it. What concerns me is - did I make a beautiful picture?
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