I'm trying as hard as I can to keep pushing the boundaries of what a woman is capable of doing. And it turns out there's a lot we can do. There's a lot we can speak about.
Rita MorenoRead
You see a script, and you say, 'Oh, I can play the heck out of that,' talk to your agent, and he says they don't want to see you. That's heartbreaking.
Interpretation
The quote expresses the disappointment of having talent and being eager to perform, but facing rejection.
Rita Moreno's quote captures the emotional turmoil that comes with the aspirations of performers. It highlights the clash between a performer’s confidence in their abilities and the harsh reality of the entertainment industry, where even the most talented individuals can face rejection and heartbreak, regardless of their skills or enthusiasm.
In practice
In a speech during an acting workshop to inspire aspiring actors.
I'm trying as hard as I can to keep pushing the boundaries of what a woman is capable of doing. And it turns out there's a lot we can do. There's a lot we can speak about.
No one's going to tell me how to make my own choices. For too many years, everybody told me what to say and what to do and how to be.
I started dancing almost before I could walk.
What musical performers bring to straight characterizations is that physical flexibility that comes with knowing your body so well. A lot of actors are terribly awkward. Terribly. And I think it's so important for them, when they're young, to work on their physical selves.
I've always had this image of this strong, sprightly person who is undaunted by anything; on the contrary, I was one of the shyest, most unsure people you ever met in your life. But I have one very specific quality: I'm plucky. I really am. I would say that's a perfect description of my personality.
I was determined that with perseverance and faith, at some point, someone would say, 'This girl has talent,' and would cast me in something meaningful.
Matisse makes a drawing, then he makes a copy of it. He copies it five times, ten times, always clarifying the line. He’s convinced that the last, the most stripped down, is the best, the purest, the definitive one; and in fact, most of the time, it was the first. In drawing, nothing is better than the first attempt.
I've never been that much of a money guy. I'm more of a film guy, and most of the money I've made is in defense of trying to keep creative control of my movies.
Our passions shape our books, repose writes them in the intervals.
I would like, if I can, to broaden the possibilities of the musical theater. I think there's a better 'Oklahoma!' someplace, a better 'West Side Story.' And I'd like to be mixed up in it.
Before I compose a piece, I walk round it several times, accompanied by myself.
Volume depends precisely on the writer's having been able to sit in a room every day, year after year, alone.
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