As an actor I am always waiting for my luck to run out.
Tom HanksRead
Now, learning how to make a movie is something you can figure out in about an afternoon. The physics of it, the marks, the lights, etc. What's hard to do is to suspend your own feelings of self consciousness. The natural actors can do that; they can become part of a characterization and learn how to maintain it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Making a movie technically is easy, but overcoming self-consciousness to perform authentically is challenging.
In this quote, Tom Hanks emphasizes the difference between the technical aspects of filmmaking, which can be learned quickly, and the emotional depth required from actors. He suggests that true acting involves immersing oneself in a character, which necessitates overcoming personal insecurities and self-awareness, a task that distinguishes natural actors from others.
Themes
ActingSelf ConsciousnessFilmmakingEmotionCharacterization
In practice
Example use cases
Use the quote during a film class to highlight the emotional challenges actors face.
More from Tom Hanks
All quotes →Even the simplest choice can make a jaw-dropping difference in our world.
Tom HanksRead
My kid could get a bad X-ray and I could get a call from the doctor saying I have something growing in my bum and that would change my perspective on everything instantaneously, on what is and what is not important.
Tom HanksRead
Back in World War II, we viewed the Japanese as 'yellow, slant-eyed dogs' that believed in different gods. They were out to kill us because our way of living was different. We, in turn, wanted to annihilate them because they were different. Does that sound familiar, by any chance, to what's going on today?
Tom HanksRead
I think it's better to feel good than to look good.
Tom HanksRead
If you look at romantic comedies as pieces of commerce, the audience is looking for wish fulfillment.
Tom HanksRead
Similar quotes
A truly good movie is enjoyable too. There’s nothing complicated about it.
Akira KurosawaRead
My apartment reflects my views as an architect. It is minimal, austere. The architecture doesn't impose itself upon you. The apartment is a stage for other things to take place.
Bernard TschumiRead
New York had all the iridescence of the beginning of the world.
F. Scott FitzgeraldRead
Like night dreams, stores often use symbolic language, therefore bypassing the ego and persona, and traveling straight to the spirit and soul who listen for the ancient and universal instructions imbedded there. Because of this process, stories can teach, correct errors, lighten the heart and the darkness, provide psychic shelter, assist transformation and heal wounds.
Clarissa Pinkola EstesRead
To labor in the arts for any reason other than love is prostitution.
Steven PressfieldRead
All deep things are song. It seems somehow the very central essence of us, song; as if all the rest were but wrappages and hulls!
Thomas CarlyleRead