Latest Martin Landau Quotes from Interviews

• A good director creates a playground for actors, and lets them go. The trick for a good director is in casting properly, and creating the playroom, and then they'll get stuff that they don't expect, and can't even direct. All the audience wants to believe is that whatever is happening, it is happening for the first time. They want to see the people within the work exchanging dialogue and action in that moment. There are not a lot of actors that can do that.

  Martin Landau

  Believe, People, Action

  Source: www.hollywoodchicago.com

• People are in denial all the time, hiding things. If I tell you a racist or dirty joke and you laugh, you're telling me something about yourself, which you don't want to reveal. Accessing that hidden side is what good acting is all about. And there are only a handful of people in the entire United States who interest me as actors, who surprise me. Even people who write about it, don't know anything about good performance. At least when you work at General Motors, you know something about cars.

  Martin Landau

  Dirty, Writing, People

  Source: www.hollywoodchicago.com

• Playing a drunk doesn't mean being a drunk, only bad actors try to be drunk. A real drunk tries to be sober, he wants another drink. How a character hides their feelings tells us who they are, no one shows their feelings except bad actors.

  Martin Landau

  Real, Character, Mean

  Source: www.hollywoodchicago.com

• The talented actor needs craft. When you do a stage play, you do it once each night in chronological order. In a film you're going to wind up doing a scene 15-20 times, just by the nature of the process. If I tell you a joke once, it's funny. The more times I tell, the less funny it is. How do you get to the point where you can laugh again? You also may have to cry again and again.

  Martin Landau

  Night, Laughing, Cry

  Source: www.hollywoodchicago.com

• What I'm saying not a lot of people say: What is considered good acting today isn't necessarily good acting, because everybody knows what they are doing. Doubt is an important part of the human being. Trust has to be attained.

  Martin Landau

  People, Doubt, Important

  Source: m.washingtontimes.com

• If you don't trust yourself, you won't trust others. You make a choice and see where it goes.

  Martin Landau

  Choices, Trust Yourself

  Source: m.washingtontimes.com

• Doubt is a very important trait. Out of doubt comes thinking, decisions, choices. We learn stuff. We learn to make mistakes. Or not to.

  Martin Landau

  Mistake, Thinking, Choices

  Source: m.washingtontimes.com

• Most acting today on television is like a locomotive on a track. Everybody knows what they are doing. The problem of writing today is everyone sounds the same. We speak differently. We think differently. People are different. And that's the beauty of it.

  Martin Landau

  Writing, Thinking, People

  Source: m.washingtontimes.com

• If it bothers me on the page, I don't do it. If it attracts me on the page and moves me, makes me think a bit, makes me laugh, makes me cry, I'm interested in it. If it's there on the page, it means it's there and up to me to bring it out. I have done some films along the way that have been screwed up and not as good as they read. Some films that are not that good on the page turn into good movies. So I'm fallible is what I'm saying.

  Martin Landau

  Moving, Mean, Thinking

  Source: m.washingtontimes.com

• It's OK to be wrong. You learn from your wrongs. You don't learn from being right. If you're right, you already know it. If you're wrong, it's because you don't know about it, and you made a mistake.

  Martin Landau

  Mistake, Made A Mistake

  Source: m.washingtontimes.com

• My mantra is "stay perpendicular." Horizontal is not as good. Half the people that came along and up with with me are either gone to another dimension or don't remember what they had for lunch. I'm fortunate. I don't know why. I just want to have a good time.

  Martin Landau

  People, Good Times, Remember

  Source: m.washingtontimes.com

• The actor has to have some degree of craft, along with the talent. No one tries to laugh except bad actors. No one tries to cry except bad actors. How a character hides his feelings tells us who he is. Most people don't know that, and most actors don't do that. Therefore, there are a lot of actors who put me to sleep, that are considered good actors, but they're predictable and boring. I know how the scene is going to end before it ends.

  Martin Landau

  Character, Sleep, Laughing

  "Martin Landau Talks FRANKENWEENIE, the Love for His Character, Bringing Mr. Rzykruski to Life, Advising Other Actors and Collaborating with Tim Burton". Interview with Christina Radish, collider.com. October 5, 2012.

• Any good director creates a playground. That's what they do. They hire the right actor, open the door and let them play because stuff will happen, right then and there. The audience wants to believe that what's going on is happening for the first time, ever. That's what acting is. That's what good scene writing is.

  Martin Landau

  Believe, Writing, Doors

  "Martin Landau Talks FRANKENWEENIE, the Love for His Character, Bringing Mr. Rzykruski to Life, Advising Other Actors and Collaborating with Tim Burton". Interview with Christina Radish, collider.com. October 5, 2012.

• I try to never repeat a character. I always try to find something new and fresh and interesting that inspires me.

  Martin Landau

  Character, Interesting, Inspire

  "Martin Landau Talks FRANKENWEENIE, the Love for His Character, Bringing Mr. Rzykruski to Life, Advising Other Actors and Collaborating with Tim Burton". Interview with Christina Radish, collider.com. October 5, 2012.