It's not a matter of learning lines. It's a matter of getting into the ideas and the will of the person. It's a matter of, 'What does he want to do? What does he want to achieve?'
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes understanding a character's intentions rather than merely memorizing lines.
Max Von Sydow highlights the importance of delving into the deeper motivations and desires of a character in acting. It's not enough to recite lines; an actor must embody the character's goals and will, which brings authenticity and depth to the performance.
In practice
During a theatre workshop, the director quoted this saying to inspire actors to connect more deeply with their roles.
Film acting, if you don't play the lead, you come, and you do your scenes in a few days, and you act with a couple of colleagues. All the rest of the actors you never see, and you don't even meet many of them. And you don't know what will happen with what you've done. Maybe it will be in the film, maybe it will not.
I don't believe in devils. Indifference and misunderstandings can create evil situations. Most of the time, people who appear to be evil are really victims of evil deeds.
What is important, I think, is to reach as many people as you can and do it as well as you can. Reach them and inspire them or amuse them, or maybe in some odd moments help them to discover something they hadn't thought of before.
The more I had to act like a saint, the more I felt like being a sinner.
Hip-hop saved me. It gave me permission to use language in a certain way. It validated my community and my friends. It gave our slang a certain elegance.
As long as my music is real, it's no limit to how many ears I can grab.
An actor entering through the door, you've got nothing. But if he enters through the window, you've got a situation.
I like touring extensively because I think the more hours you spend onstage, the more you know who you are onstage.
As a filmmaker, I believe in trying to make movies that invite the audience to be part of the film; in other words, there are some films where I'm just a spectator and am simply observing from the front seat. What I try to do is draw the audience into the film and have them participate in what's happening onscreen.
There is a kind of classlessness in the theater. The rehearsal pianist, the head carpenter, the stage manager, the star of the show-all are family.
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