Quotes About Craftsmanship

Or are you exclusively "artful" because it's easier to excuse your sloppiness as purposeful?

I would encourage subtlety. Nabokov's bubble gum or Munro's water over Dumbo's magic feather.

I write plays and poetry at the same time, and I'm always refining, but I'm not obsessive about it. It's what I like to do, what I've always wanted to do.

Television is much better crafted today then in the 70s. The content is less positive but I'm one of those that feel our entertainment reflects our world, it's not a driver - art imitates life.

I think making a movie is like drawing or creating an art piece. The artwork reflects part of your personality, but not all.

To me that's part of my working day, and I would never refuse a job where I'm under several hours of makeup, because as an actor, I enjoy performing. It's about the creation of the character and the art to me, not about being comfortable and how long it all takes.

Writing a screenplay needs to be more than words on a page - and by the way, I think the words on the page are something you have to try to execute on the highest level you can; I'm not dismissing that by any regard.

I will literally read anything, regardless of genre, fiction or non-fiction, as long as it's well written.

I have done my regional cinema very meticulously and regarded it above everything.

I love opening night, and I love doing plays. But one of my favorite parts about doing a play or working on a new play is rehearsal.

The rehearsal process is the biggest gift you can give to the director and to yourself as an actor because it allows you to shape the character and the scenes.

Rehearsals are one of my favourite things in the world.

The actors I admire, like Ben Kingsley or Daniel Day-Lewis, they totally reinvent themselves in every part. I hope I get a chance to do that.

I get to tell the most interesting stories I know how to tell with the most interesting sentences I know how to compose - and people who aren't related to me read them. To be paid to write things that matter to me is extraordinary.

What we make testifies who we are. People can sense care and can sense carelessness. This relates to respect for each other and carelessness is personally offensive.

Mr. Hitchcock knew what he was doing.

When you watch a Hitchcock movie, you feel like learning back because there's a master in control.

When I was a kid, one of my hobbies was as model-maker.

I actually built my own dining table back home in Australia. It's a secret hobby of mine that I weirdly find transfixing.

All I can do is do my best work, try to create the best kind of moment to moment reality that I can do. That's what I do. I'm an actor. And all the rest of it is like baseball. You hit the ball. Sometimes it goes in the hole. Sometimes it goes to the player.

Writing is hard work: it is like doing homework for the rest of your life. You are always chipping away at it.

I have a very schoolish approach to acting. I like to do my homework, know more about the character, and study it. It's all about the craft.

I've always been one to do the work and just hone my craft.

That's what I do in my stand-up. I work hard and hone the material and after a while audiences expect what I do to be good.