Well, you put a little piece of yourself into every character that you do. Even if you're playing some psychotic person, which of course I'm not, some part of you is in that character and it's hopefully believable. I always come back to the fact that my own instinct is better than something I build in my mind.
Interpretation
Every character an actor portrays includes a reflection of their own self, making them relatable and believable.
In this quote, Scarlett Johansson emphasizes the intrinsic connection between an actor and their characters. She suggests that even when playing someone vastly different from themselves, there is still a fragment of their own personality infused within, contributing to the authenticity of the portrayal. This connection highlights the importance of instinct in an actor's performance as opposed to intellectual constructs created in the mind.
In practice
During an acting workshop, to inspire fellow actors to embrace their unique traits.
I don't think there's any kind of preparation for sudden celebrity. I think you almost have this slight nervous breakdown when that kind of media attention happens. I mean, you're doing the same kind of thing that you do all the time, only you have to make these weird adjustments. Like, you're buying a slice of pizza and somebody's outside photographing you which is weird - that's not normal! It's very uncomfortable.
I don't want to be the ingenue anymore. It's nice to be glamorous, but I don't want to always be an object of desire. Because it doesn't last.
The story was writing itself and I was having a hard time keeping up with it.
Nothing convinces an artist more of the arbitrariness of the means to which he resorts to attain a goal - however permanent it may be - than the creative process itself, the process of composition.
And the night shall be filled with music, And the cares, that infest the day, Shall fold their tents like the Arabs, and silently steal away.
Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the most natural things of the world that has been brought to the greatest perfection, and it offers a greater range for enjoyment and appreciation than, possibly, any other purely sensory thing.
Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion.
I like to be buttoned onto tradition. The thing is to improve it, twist it and mold it; to make something new of it; not to deny it. The riches of history can be plucked at any point.
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