Latest Michael Sheen Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• I remember someone said to me, "Never stand up when you can sit down, never sit down when you can lie down, never lie down when you can be asleep." Those are bits of advice that I haven't taken, really. I've done the opposite of them, but they have stayed with me.

  Michael Sheen

  Lying, Taken, Opposites

  Source: collider.com

• I love being able to play as many different characters, in as many different worlds as I possibly can. That's what I really enjoy.

  Michael Sheen

  Character, Love Is, Play

  Source: collider.com

• Hopefully, any character I play has an anchor in reality. The more fantastical characters, or fantastical worlds that they inhabit are really fun and allow you, in some ways, to tell stories and reveal things about our lives that would be harder to take, in a more realistic setting.

  Michael Sheen

  Fun, Character, Reality

  Source: collider.com

• We live in a bubble of the fantasy of death, but the reality of it is something that we obviously all face and have to deal with, at some point.

  Michael Sheen

  Reality, Faces, Fantasy

  Source: collider.com

• When you come to actually act, it's a game. It may be a very serious game, but it's still a game. If you lose that sense of play, the work suffers.

  Michael Sheen

  Games, Play, Suffering

  Source: collider.com

• In the case of two actors connecting with each other and trusting each other, our bodies have memories without us having to consciously think about it, so rather than think, "Oh, I must think about my daughter dying," you just let that go and trust that you have all the emotions you need in there, and by losing yourself in the scene, that stuff kicks in without having to spend the day thinking about horrific things happening to your own child.

  Michael Sheen

  Daughter, Children, Memories

  Source: collider.com

• No matter how difficult things are, and no matter how much grief and loss there is, you can turn it into something positive.

  Michael Sheen

  Grief, Loss, Matter

  Source: collider.com

• What's enjoyable for me, as an actor, is to do as many different things as possible.

  Michael Sheen

  Different, Actors, Enjoyable

  Source: collider.com

• You don't want to get into doing the same thing, over and over again. I know I don't.

  Michael Sheen

  Want, Knows

  Source: collider.com

• With vampires, there is such a great tradition that you suddenly find yourself a part of. Each generation reinvents what that means to them.

  Michael Sheen

  Mean, Finding Yourself, Vampire

  Source: collider.com

• The more you think that you are watching a show about sex, the more you ultimately are watching a show about the challenges of just connecting with human beings and being intimate.

  Michael Sheen

  Sex, Thinking, Challenges

  Source: collider.com

• Having said that, what I think we found, in doing the show, and in life, generally, is that the more you try to separate sex from everything else, it's impossible. You can't. The act of observation affects the actual experiment, and we see that in this.

  Michael Sheen

  Sex, Thinking, Trying

  Source: collider.com

• My experience of working on this show, even though there is so much about sex and sexuality, and we find out a lot of facts and statistics that are very interesting, in their own right, I found that I started talking about relationships more, and the emotions, the difficulties and the challenges. So, I became far more open about that, which I think is probably an indication with the show itself.

  Michael Sheen

  Sex, Thinking, Talking

  Source: collider.com

• Nothing can be left until the last minute, so that everyone knows exactly where they are. Everyone is comfortable and everyone feels safe because we want people to be able to keep coming into this show and taking those risks. There are a lot of risks in this show, not just nudity, but emotional risks. We want the best actors to feel comfortable about coming in and exploring this subject matter with us.

  Michael Sheen

  Emotional, People, Risk

  Source: collider.com

• So, if they're coming in and having to do scenes that involve nudity or sexuality, in some way, the utmost important thing is that everyone feels comfortable and safe. If there's any gray area, that's going to be a problem.

  Michael Sheen

  Important, Safe, Way

  Source: collider.com

• We knew, very early on, that we had to be very, very clear that directors need to speak to actors and actresses and be very clear about what is expected, and find out whether they're comfortable with that. Wardrobe has to be in place. There have to be checks.

  Michael Sheen

  Directors, Needs, Actors

  Source: collider.com

• And so, in terms of setting the right tone and finding a way of presenting all of these things, that creates a cohesive whole and doesn't alienate the audience, is tough. That's a challenge. And I think the tone of a lot of shows is discovered through experimentation and actually making it. Eventually, it starts to cohere.

  Michael Sheen

  Thinking, Challenges, Way

  Source: collider.com

• When you're working on something where there's usually one sex scene in the film, it all gets a little bit of a gray area and people get a bit uncomfortable and awkward. You just get through it. But, it became very clear on this that that can't happen. There can't be any gray areas on this because there are actors and actresses coming in for a day or a couple of days, as well as people who are there regularly.

  Michael Sheen

  Sex, Couple, People

  Source: collider.com

• It has to be absolutely believable. It's also going between images and scenes with nudity and sexuality that would be seen, in conventional terms, as kind of sexually exciting. It's up against things that are much more medical and gynecological, and notoriously we, as a culture and a society, have some issues with that kind of thing.

  Michael Sheen

  Issues, Would Be, Culture

  Source: collider.com

• But obviously, things have changed in many ways since the '50s, when the show is started, in terms of sexuality, and how much access we have to images of it and information about it. But, the same problems always apply. It doesn't matter whether we know a lot more about sex now or if there's a lot more access to it. The same problems of intimacy, of dealing with other people, of connecting and being vulnerable with other people, which is what the show is ultimately about, still applies now, I think.

  Michael Sheen

  Sex, Thinking, People

  Source: collider.com

• Well, I think tone is very important with this show [Masters of Sex] because there are certain elements or certain aspects to the show that may be reminiscent of other shows. But, it really is a very new kind of show, in terms of the subject matter and the way it's being dealt with, and the fact that it's about real people and real events.

  Michael Sheen

  Sex, Real, Thinking

  Source: collider.com

• In terms of how prudish Americans were in the '40s and '50s, I have absolutely no idea. I do know about the character that I play. And I don't think it's about being prudish. I think it's about trying to balance a sense of control in this man's life.

  Michael Sheen

  Character, Men, Thinking

  Source: collider.com

• It's funny the more technological advanced everything gets, the more like acting in your bedroom when you're a kid it is.

  Michael Sheen

  Kids, Acting, Bedroom

  "Exclusive Interview with Tron: Legacy stars Michael Sheen, James Frain, Beau Garrett and Bruce Boxleitner". Tribute Interview, www.tribute.ca. November 29, 2010.

• The first job I ever did in the theatre, I was supposed to be a genius piano player. I couldn't play the piano, but you just sit there at a piano like you're playing, and suddenly all this amazing music comes out and the audience believes you can do it. It's the same with computers. I love scenes where there are people yanking at monitors, "yes I'll put you through now," and you know they're just doing that. But you can look brilliant at all this technology. I love it.

  Michael Sheen

  Jobs, Believe, Technology

  "Exclusive Interview with Tron: Legacy stars Michael Sheen, James Frain, Beau Garrett and Bruce Boxleitner". Tribute Interview, www.tribute.ca. November 29, 2010.