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Quotes
"Acting in the cinema is
photographed life. In the theatre it's formed, or signified, life. A good
actor should keep working in both mediums."
"America is
incredible to anyone brought up in Europe. When we are young, we hear
fairy tales about life in this country, and I must say that now I'm here,
my dreams haven't exactly been shattered."
(said during his first trip to
the U.S.)
"To me the stage is sculpture. Films are like a painted
poster, spread out on a one-dimensional surface."
"...We [actors]
are the sculpture and the sculptor at the same time..."
"At first
you don't comprehend Shakespeare. But like the sea, the deeper you go the
more he carries you. You can't drown, he holds you up. I felt that Hamlet
was written for me. In every part you find something of yourself,
for we are all brothers, but in Hamlet I found a twin."
"Despite
what some people say, acting for films is an art in itself, not the same
as acting for the stage at all. I can never understand actors who say all
acting is the same. The actor's art is like a river that flows in two
directions. It all comes from the same source, the body, but it flows one
way for the movies, another for the theater."
"I'm married to the
theatre, but my mistress is the films. I am now spending more time with my
mistress."
"Filmed theatre is mostly bad
because the style of acting in film is entirely different than on the
stage. If you act on stage like you do in a film you are a bad actor, with
a stage actor it's the opposite too."
(on why his Hamlet was never
filmed)
"I live in moods of highs and lows. I am in the middle age, now I understand
everything better. It is important that an artist knows what he is not. I have not become the artist with whom I would have been"
pleased.
"As well as the moon reflects to the people the light of the sun, the
actor must absorb the work of the poet and transmit it to the audience."
"If somebody is good and a Nazi, he is not intelligent. If somebody is
intelligent and a Nazi, he is not good. And if somebody is good and
intelligent, he cannot be a Nazi."
"I have never believed in nationalism. Even as a boy I did not. I
believe only in the idea of a native country, and this means one speaks that language. Unfortunately, nationalism is the reason, why there are so many wars - people see their countries as though they can do no wrong."
"I was always a romantic. And I have always been an idealist. My
capital has never been the dollar, but the imagination."
"I never wanted to keep my mouth shut. I never kept my opinions to myself even under Hitler!
"Two luxuries I have always insisted on: Time and character."
"There are people, who want to see me as a pretty face like an
orchid in a buttonhole; but I
am no orchid. I am instead, a thorny rose."
"To me the bragging of most directors is horrorible. They produce
their ideas of themselves best because they could never be actors. In their impotence they always invent new, inexpressive variations of themselves."
"I divide critics into two kinds. Some can understand me ..., and the others do not even
come close. I am not interested in what eunuchs know about sex."
"Art is something mythical, magic. It has to be performed with
conviction and should move the hearts of the people."
"I am no genius! I am only sensitive as are many others."
"I am a genuine Viennese and will always be one."
...and about Oskar Werner...
Jean Renoir on
Oskar's cooking:
"He makes very elaborate dishes, but it is more
than a hobby for him. Whatever Oskar does, he does with his whole
being."
Thanks to Pamela Hall and Cat for helping me with the quotes and their translations!
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