Mike Leigh Quotes
I can't negotiate and collaborate with a character to create a distilled dramatic investigation of the raw material. I need to work with an actor. That stuff about actors who stay in character all the time is nonsense.

Quotes to Explore
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My nursery school did a production of 'The Three Little Pigs.' I played the third pig. When the wolf knocked on my door, I refused to get up and answer it because, to me, he was knocking the wrong way. I just lay there, snoring away on stage, fully immersed in my character. My dad turned to my mom and said: 'Dustin Hoffman.'
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Where there is righteousness in the heart, there is beauty in the character. When there is beauty in the character, there is harmony in the home. When there is harmony in the home, there is order in the nation. When there is order in the nation, there is peace in the world.
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2016 is going to be a fight. A fight between conservatism and a Democrat Party that is undermining the very character of our nation.
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Character is the indelible mark that determines the only true value of all people and all their work.
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I try genuinely, when I'm playing a character, to not judge them and just to inhabit someone as how one sees them. That being said, you also want to make sure that you don't blur the edges of people too much because humans are naughty and complicated beings.
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I love going to the movies; I love watching good movie actors. They must know something I don't.
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There's always something more to be accomplished with a character. Theater is a human experience. There's nothing shellacked or finished off about it. I guess that's why it always draws me back.
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You take what you know, and you put it through your own prism. If I play characters that break down or cry, it's Gary Oldman crying; it's not the character crying.
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There are two different forms of storytelling: Novels tend to come from the inside of a character, and movies tend to look at them from the outside in relation to others in their world.
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Religious beliefs have played a vital role in forming America's character as well as my own. I was raised as a Lutheran, and I believe in God and consider my faith and involvement with organized religion to be an important part of who I am.
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Usually, witches are the little side character... a bad female character that comes in and leaves.
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I think people, especially in the Muslim community, are rightly cautious any time you hear, 'Oh, there's going to be a Muslim character.'
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For some reason, they always gave me a fat suit in high-school productions. If there was a character who needed to be robust, they gave me a fat suit, and I put on a silly voice.
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Sometimes I'll get a premise, you know, for a book. In fact, I get those quite often. And I don't commit to it until I really know the voice of that character. It's almost as if the character is speaking to me.
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It's not my character to up and challenge anyone.
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The true worth of a race must be measured by the character of its womanhood.
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'The Walking Dead' never wants you to get too comfortable with characters and cast members. I think about the time you feel fairly secure with your appreciation of a character is about the time the show will gut-punch you.
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I think God asks us to promise to replenish the planet and to pay 100% attention to our young so that they will develop character and a good conscience.
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Some people are kind of themselves, and some people are straight-up actors that can meld into a lot of different parts.
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I go with the flow. Whatever music you play for me, I'll dance.
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The allusion was that I was actually naked. I loved that. It always, kind of shocked people enough that they became mine immediately.
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A lot of guys go into the NBA not being able to shoot the ball well, but then they become great shooters.
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A room without books is like a body without a soul.
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I can't negotiate and collaborate with a character to create a distilled dramatic investigation of the raw material. I need to work with an actor. That stuff about actors who stay in character all the time is nonsense.