Shameless is a rough show, and it’s not for everyone, but it’s also beautiful.
Emotions are the natural result of striving for something. Every single scene has two or more people in it, and nobody wants the same thing, so they are negotiating this one way or another. The result of that negotiation will bring out all kinds of emotional stuff in you.
I was a dog in a past life. Really. I'll be walking down the street and dogs will do a sort of double take. Like, Hey, I know him.
It's hard to be depressed around a ukulele. You just pick it up and you're halfway home.
You should know the lines, be prepared, get sleep, and have the script analyzed so you're ready to rock and roll.
I'm not much of a preparer. I think sometimes as an actor you need to go out and learn some skills, but in terms of preparation for understanding the character, it's all on the page, and if it's not on the page, you're in trouble.
All that back-story stuff doesn't help. What you get paid for is to stand toe-to-toe with the other actor and get him to do your will.
I think what all actors share is that, somewhere down in your solar plexus, there's this fear that you're not going to be able to come up with the goods, that this is the one movie where you're going to look like a fool, and they should have cast someone else. And you feel ugly, and you've got three chins, and you've gained too much weight, and you're losing your hair, and there are so many better actors who could do this. But if you've got chops, what you realize is that everybody feels that way, so just show up and do the job.
I love metaphor the way some people love junk food.
The emotions will take care of themselves. You don't have to prod them along. As a matter of fact, you get in trouble when you prod them along.
You have to do whatever you can to limit the things that could make you feel insecure.
I've always felt that, no matter where you go, people are just people.
It sure is boring to be around people who are in character all the time. I always find it's closer to mental illness than acting excellence.
We always want to see people strive and see the human spirit triumph against adversity. That's what it's all about because that's what we're doing. We're trying to triumph in our lives.
Nothing else counts except what you want.
It's hard on an actor when you have to do a scene 45 times and you know damn well that three of the angles a director is shooting will never make it into the movie.
The roughest part is showing up. Once you throw yourself into the scene, it's just great fun to let it all go and not be self-conscious, and stop questioning whether you're sufficient.
I really love hanging out on the set, and I love the life, and all of that. But I don't think I could stick with this profession if it weren't for those 15 minutes a day when I get to act. That's the part I love. For some strange reason, it's the time that I'm the least self-conscious in my whole life.
So much of the violence in the movies is b.s. violence: A guy in the middle of a large city with 14 people lying on the ground that he's just killed with his superhuman powers, and there's not a cop to be found. Not a siren to be heard. No price to be paid. That's not true, and I don't like that sort of stuff.
One's complete sentences are attempts, as often as not, to complete an incomplete self with words.
There are some older women out there who are just knockouts, real beauties, and they're not getting the roles they should.
I'll tell you this about the Oscars - they're real.
So many actors spend so much energy trying to remember the lines. It's so foolish. Guys are the worst.
All modesty aside, I think I'm good at reading scripts. The way I read a script is as fast as I can, all in one sitting, and I don't read many of the stage directions. I only read enough stage directions to let me know where I am, because they're always so verbose and mostly horseshit. So I only read the dialogue, which allows me to see the movie in my mind's eye in real time.
I've studied Stanislavsky, and Mamet taught Stanislavsky, and I studied with Sanford Meisner. But the part of the method that I think is the most fruitful is the method of physical actions. It all comes down to your objective: Nothing else counts except what you want. How you feel will take care of itself.
