Study, find all the good teachers and study with them, get involved in acting to act, not to be famous or for the money. Do plays. It's not worth it if you are just in it for the money. You have to love it.
Interpretation
Pursue your passion for acting for the love of the craft rather than for fame or financial gain.
Philip Seymour Hoffman's quote emphasizes the importance of passion and genuine interest in art, particularly in acting. He advocates for studying under skilled teachers and immersing oneself in the practice of acting, highlighting that the true value lies not in seeking fame or money, but in loving what you do and committing to the craft for its own sake.
In practice
This quote can be used as a motivational speech during a drama workshop.
I think I would have drank myself to death, literally, if I didn't just stop, once and for all when I did. I am not ever going to preach to anyone about drugs or drinking. But, for me, when they were around, I had no self control.
Well, in the theater, I think you're actually more responsible for what is going on onstage as a director than you are in film.
I've had to make the transition from sweeping in for 15 minutes, doing my stuff and clearing out, to carrying a movie for the duration - in a dress.
I had insecurities and fears like everybody does, and I got over it. But I was interested in the parts of me that struggled with those things.
I didn't have any idea that I would be able to have a career in film.
There’s a period of time in your life when I kind of look back, and I’m like, was I happy, or was I just not aware?
If typography is calling attention to itself, it's taking that attention away from what the words are saying.
The colour of my soul is iron-grey and sad bats wheel about the steeple of my dreams.
What could be more simple and more complex, more obvious and more profound than a portrait.
Everything was a song. Every conversation, every personal hurt, every observance of people in stress, happiness and love... if you could feel it, I could feel it. And I could write a song about it.
I've made movies that I thought were okay, but then I was very good. And sometimes you're in a movie and you think, 'I wish more people saw that' - because you're good. And it just works out that the movie gets lost. But that's show business.
It has taken me years of struggle, hard work and research to learn to make one simple gesture, and I know enough about the art of writing to realize that it would take as many years of concentrated effort to write one simple, beautiful sentence.
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