A good actor always sets you straight. If you've written a false moment and thought it was probably pretty great, the actor's gonna show you when he gets to that moment. They're the great test of the validity of the material.
Sam ShepardRead
I never considered myself a movie star, and I didn't want to become a movie star, because as soon as you do, you throw away that possibility of playing character. You really do. All of a sudden you're just an entity, you know?
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the trade-off between fame and the ability to fully embody a character.
Sam Shepard expresses his disdain for the label of 'movie star,' implying that such a title limits an actor's ability to immerse themselves in diverse roles. By becoming a recognizable figure, an actor risks being seen merely as their public persona rather than an artist capable of portraying an array of characters with depth and complexity.
In practice
During a film festival panel on acting, one might quote Shepard to illustrate the contrast between fame and artistic integrity.
A good actor always sets you straight. If you've written a false moment and thought it was probably pretty great, the actor's gonna show you when he gets to that moment. They're the great test of the validity of the material.
I stay away from heavy-handed stuff, the good guy and the bad guy. It just doesn't interest me; all it does is create more fences between people, I think.
I hate endings. Just detest them. Beginnings are definitely the most exciting, middles are perplexing and endings are a disaster. … The temptation towards resolution, towards wrapping up the package, seems to me a terrible trap. Why not be more honest with the moment? The most authentic endings are the ones which are already revolving towards another beginning. That’s genius.
There are places where writing is acting and acting is writing. I'm not so interested in the divisions. I'm interested in the way things cross over.
Democracy's a very fragile thing. You have to take care of democracy. As soon as you stop being responsible to it and allow it to turn into scare tactics, it's no longer democracy, is it? It's something else. It may be an inch away from totalitarianism.
On stage, you're not limited at all because you're free in language: language is the source of the imagination. You can travel farther in language than you can in any film.
I think the chance of finding beauty is higher if you don't work on it directly. Beauty in architecture is driven by practicality. This is what you learn from studying the old townscapes of the Swiss farmers.
If only life could be a little more tender and art a little more robust.
Color helps to express light, not the physical phenomenon, but the only light that really exists, that in the artist's brain.
No matter how big the audience is going to be. I'm interested in doing things that are fun.
In art, scandal is a false narrative, a smoke screen that camouflages rather than reveals. When we don't know what we're seeing, we overreact.
In the olden days, everybody sang. You were expected to sing as well as talk. It was a mark of the cultured man to sing.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.