Ian Mckellen Quotes
You would be surprised how many directors don't know what they want. They might not know what they want until they see it, they might know what they want but no idea how to get it out of the actor, then you've both got a problem.
Quotes to Explore
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When Bush first got elected, the very first time there was talk of going to war with Iraq, the mainstream media gave his position total credibility. I didn't get it then, and I don't get it now.
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The quick success was a bit strange to get used to.
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This invisibility, however, means that the opportunities for creative research are infinite.
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I have changed so much as an actor over the years.
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No one could ad lib like Peter. You would think that it was all scripted, he was so poetic, but it wasn't.
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I think it would be bizarre to pick somebody to speak at the convention based on their sexual preference, because once you go down that road, why don't you pick a transvestite?
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When decorum is repression, the only dignity free men have is to speak out.
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I challenged things that needed to be challenged at Purdue.
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If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country.
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I find it really hard to relate to the Bond women or Angelina Jolie in 'Salt.' And of course it's informed by my experiences and the people I've met along the way and the places I've been.
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Surely a long life must be somewhat tedious, since we are forced to call in so many trifling things to help rid us of our time, which will never return.
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Economists of a classical bent lay a large part of the decline of employment, and thus lagging output, to a contraction of labour supply.
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I'm more comfortable writing traditional protagonists. But 'Steve Jobs' and 'The Social Network' have antiheroes. I like to write antiheroes as if they're making their case to God about why they should be allowed into heaven. I have to find something in that character that is like me and write to that.
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Madonna is a creation, so perhaps we should give her and the factory that created her a little credit, but I think that she should quietly disappear now. Poor Madge seems unable to decide whether she wants to look like Marilyn Monroe or Marlene Dietrich.
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The handwriting on the wall may be a forgery.
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My English was limited to vacationing and not really engaging with Americans. I knew 'shopping' and 'eating' English - I could say 'blue sweater,' 'creme brulee,' and 'Caesar salad,' - so I came here thinking I spoke English.
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Hippy people had a hopeful idea of what they wanted the world to be like, then most of them changed into corporate Yuppies. But I still have that hippy thing underneath somewhere.
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As straight Americans we have two choices: we can choose to sit back and enjoy our rights as we have them, or we can realize that it is actually not freedom at all when our friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues do not share these basic rights.
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The issue of faith is not so much whether we believe in God, but whether we believe the God we believe in. (p.35)
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Great people talk about ideas, average people talk about things, and small people talk about wine.
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Every film had its own grammar. And it's your job as a director to basically figure out a language to tell a story.
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Are there not some places where we seem to breathe sadness? — why, we cannot tell. It is a chain of recollections — an idea which carries you back to other times, to other places — which, very likely, have no connection with the present time and place.
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You would be surprised how many directors don't know what they want. They might not know what they want until they see it, they might know what they want but no idea how to get it out of the actor, then you've both got a problem.
