Bad actors try to cry, and good actors try not to. Bad actors try to laugh, and good actors try not to.
Martin LandauRead
I love to see lack of clarity in a performance as well as clarity, as well as trust, as well as the kinds of things that human beings go through. I love to see spontaneity and 'inevitability.' How it gets there is going to shock the hell out of me, but it will get there somehow.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the beauty of spontaneity and unpredictability in artistic performances.
Martin Landau expresses his appreciation for the dynamic and unpredictable nature of performances. He values the blend of clarity and ambiguity, suggesting that art is enriched by the varying emotions and experiences of human existence. The unexpected journey of a performance, culminating in a profound or inevitable conclusion, is what captivates him as an audience member and an artist.
Themes
ArtPerformanceSpontaneityClarityUnpredictability
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used during a discussion on creative processes in art classes.
More from Martin Landau
All quotes →I run the Actor's Studio on the West Coast, and one of the things I say all the time to the people I teach - many of whom are acting teachers - is that an actor needs to make choices that make him present.
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I studied with Strasberg, Elia Kazan. They raised the bar. They weren't easy to please, and they made you achieve the best you could do. That's what a teacher does: he infuses you with passion for something.
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As a Jew, there's a need to keep that atrocity alive. There were Catholics and gypsies and homosexuals who died in the Holocaust, too. It's amazing that people allowed this slaughter to take place. There's a need to make these films and reiterate it happened.
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People think I'm a very serious actor, which I am. But you know, if you don't have a sense of humor doing what I do, you perish.
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Dialogue is what a character's willing to share and reveal to another character, and the 90% they aren't willing to share is what I do for a living.
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