Top quotes by John Hurt

Each day, as you get older, there is a new perspective on life. It's a progression of some sort. Votes: 18

I turn up in Los Angeles every now and then, so I can get some big money films in order to finance my smaller money films. Votes: 14

I first got involved with Mel Brooks through 'The Elephant Man.' Everybody knows now, but they didn't know at the time that he was the producer. Votes: 13

I'm essentially the result of other people's imagination. And that's fine. Because of other people's imagination, I've played parts I would never have thought I could do. Still, I've never had a hankering or an ambition for any particular role. Votes: 11

I've done all sorts of children's things before, but none as big as 'Harry Potter.' Votes: 11

I'm not really a big musical fan. I enjoyed 'West Side Story' when it came out, but it gets a bit tired in the end. Votes: 11

If I'm doing a play, 30 to 40 percent of the people that come to the stage door have pictures of 'Alien' for me to autograph. And usually, the photos are pretty gory ones. Votes: 11

I don't think you automatically become an enlightened person because you are a daddy. But they will change you, of course - their understanding of you puts you in a different place. Votes: 10

I'd love to claim that what I have done in my life is of my doing, but it's not of my doing at all. I've blown around in the wind like a mad thing, influenced by this and that - like a piece of paper: like the boy in that scene in 'American Beauty' watching a piece of paper blowing hither and thither. Votes: 9

I mark a script like an exam, and I try not to do anything under 50 per cent. Similarly with the part. And also film is a peculiar thing, parts don't necessarily read in script form anything like as well as they can do when it comes to materialising. Votes: 9

The things that I've enjoyed most are not really science fiction. They are not much fun to make because there are so many toys involved. They are fun for directors who like toys, like Ridley Scott, but they are not a lot of fun to make. A lot of hanging around, changing this and that. Votes: 8

There's an awful lot of hanging around when you're doing science fiction. Going down and waiting for them to set up, being told to go back to your dressing room while they change the track and the lighting and so on. Votes: 8

Parents are the worst teachers, if they are good at it and you're not. My father thought I was the densest offspring he could have produced. Votes: 8

Where humanity is going to find itself in, say, 20, 30, 40, or 50 years would be very difficult to predict, I think. There are moments, of course, when you think that it's going from bad to worse, but there are other moments when you think that human efforts are really flowering into something really fantastic. Votes: 8

My father's a clergyman, and he was in the mission field for a certain amount of time in British Honduras, which is now Belize. Votes: 8

Pretending to be other people is my game and that to me is the essence of the whole business of acting. Votes: 8

The difference between anger and deep remorse - remorse is much fatter. It's a deeper feeling altogether. Anger is too easy an escape for my money. Votes: 7

Religious people know deep down that that is the most vulnerable area of their lives, and when others question it, they are liable to hit out and feel insulted. You know it is absolutely without proof, yet people still commit themselves totally to this belief. They cannot refute it because it is so central to their lives. Votes: 6

We are all racing towards death. No matter how many great, intellectual conclusions we draw during our lives, we know they're all only man-made, like God. I begin to wonder where it all leads. What can you do, except do what you can do as best you know how. Votes: 6

Don't forget there are two sides to performing. Finding the truth, but you also have to be transparent enough for the audience to see it. How many times have you seen a performance and thought: 'Well, it seems to be meaning a great deal to you but it ain't coming across to me?' It is to be shared. Votes: 5

It's an immensely competitive business, and I can tell you the older you get, the parts are fewer, and the people who are proven performers are greater. Votes: 5

I think love can be really tough. Because it involves ultimately an honesty to the nth degree that you are capable of. Once said, you've lost your deposit. It's best if you don't say it. Votes: 5

Actors are not always the best judges. We have a peculiar idea of what we think we are, and sometimes it's best left to others to decide what we play. Votes: 5

I've never guided my life. I've just been whipped along by the waves I'm sitting in. I don't make plans at all. Plans are what make God laugh. You can make plans, you can make so many plans, but they never go right, do they? Votes: 4

My mother's father drank and her mother was an unhappy, neurotic woman, and I think she has lived all her life afraid of anyone who drinks for fear something like that might happen to her. Votes: 4

It would be difficult to have any unfulfilled ambitions because I don't have any ambitions. I've never been that kind of performer. Votes: 4

I say you play a part, you don't work one. Votes: 4

I never quite understand why we watch the news. There doesn't really seem much point watching somebody tell you what the news is when you could quite easily listen to it on the radio. Votes: 4

If you do an interview in 1960, something it's bound to change by the year 2000. And if it doesn't, then there's something drastically wrong. Votes: 3

I've never been pushy. People have said I should have been, more, but I'm not sure. I've watched hugely ambitious people: the minute they've got a success, they know where it's going, they know how to deal with it, and it all happens for them. Great. But that's not the way I - well, I don't like to use the word 'operate'. Votes: 2

I was completely crazy and mad when I was young. I was absolutely in love with the dissolute. Votes: 0

You can't lose your concentration at all. And there are times when you're on the stage, and you've got silence, which is wonderful, but you have to have the confidence to make you realize it's fine. You can't suddenly wobble and think, 'They're not interested.' Votes: 0

As Beckett said, it's not enough to die, one has to be forgotten as well. Votes: 0

I wanted to work with those boys (producers Andy and Larry Wachowski) because they're so eccentric and peculiar. Larry, of course, is halfway towards being a woman now. It's a crazy world. Votes: 0

The most difficult thing about painting is the self-discipline. When I finish a job, I give myself a few days, but then I have to discipline myself quite fiercely if I want to do some painting that's worthwhile. Otherwise, you're just doodling. It's much easier when you're just told what you have to do. Votes: 0

My fathers a clergyman, and he was in the mission field for a certain amount of time in British Honduras, which is now Belize. Votes: 0

Nudes are the greatest to paint. Everything you can find in a landscape or a still life or anything else is there: darkness and light, character dimension, texture. I painted heads too, of course. Votes: 0

Also the wonderful thing about film, you can see light at the end of the tunnel. You did realize that it is going to come to an end at some stage. Votes: 0

I put everything I can into the mulberry of my mind and hope that it is going to ferment and make a decent wine. How that process happens, I'm sorry to tell you I can't describe. Votes: 0

You collect as much information as you can and then you put it into the mulberry of your mind and hope that you come up with a decent wine. Sometimes you do; sometimes you don't. Votes: 0

When you're really working well with a director then you can be as outrageous as you like and so can he. And there's no worry about it. Votes: 0

I first decided that I wanted to act when I was 9. And I was at a very bizarre prep school at the time, to say high Anglo-Catholic would be a real English understatement. Votes: 0

Society is constantly recalibrating, redefining what it considers to be moral and immoral. Votes: 0

To me, nothing ever feels like a sure thing. I cling to that because it's very important you don't ever think anything is a sure thing. Votes: 0

I can't say that I wouldn't prefer to make small films, basically because I think they are probably more interesting in terms of the material. But every now and again, it's quite good to do a big one. Votes: 0

I loathed school. I don't have an academic mind, and besides I was so bored by my teachers! How teachers can take a child's inventiveness and say yes, yes, in that pontifical way of theirs, and smother everything! Votes: 0

I first decided that I wanted to act when I was 9. And I was at a very bizarre prep school at the time; to say 'high Anglo-Catholic' would be a real English understatement. Votes: 0

I love the uilleann pipes and listen to Ronan Browne who's an uilleann piper. Votes: 0

I like the physical activity of gardening. It's kind of thrilling. I do a lot of weeding. Votes: 0

How my film career happened, I don't know. It was unplanned. I'd been in films and TV throughout the Sixties and early Seventies, but it was really 'The Naked Civil Servant' in 1975 that put me on the radar. Votes: 0

The clergy is in the same business as actors, just a different department. Votes: 0

I am not an enormous believer in research being the be-all and end-all. I get suspicious when I read about actors spending six months in a clinic, say, in order to play someone who is sick. Votes: 0

I remember once when I told Lindsay Anderson at a party that acting was just a sophisticated way of playing cowboys and Indians he almost had a fit. Votes: 0

Things come in a quieter way to me. It's not laziness, and it's not diffidence. I just know how far you have to bend for work. That's important for me. Votes: 0

It's quite a dangerous career move to go wilfully on making films that may not find a distributor. Votes: 0

Also the wonderful thing about film, you can see light at the end of the tunnel. You did realise that it is going to come to an end at some stage. Votes: 0

I didn't consider myself to be pretty, not at all. Votes: 0

I like entertaining. I adore it. I feel I'm in the right place. Without question. Votes: 0

Everybody, I think, that was in 'Harry Potter' was certainly introduced to an enormous lot of young people. Votes: 0

Picasso was hugely innovative, and, wow, did he have facility, amazing ability, but I don't think he painted a masterpiece. Votes: 0

I knew I wanted to act from a very young age - from about nine, really - but I didn't know how to go about it. I had no idea. The world was a much bigger place then. Votes: 0

Very, very broadly speaking, you can put directors into two areas: One for whom you work, and the other with whom you work. And I prefer the latter, for obvious reasons. It's a great relief to feel that you're working with someone rather than for someone. Votes: 0

I'm very much of the opinion that to work is better than not to work. Votes: 0

Punk recognised the fact that the establishment had no room. There's no point in saying you've got the establishment wrong because they hadn't got the establishment wrong, they'd got it absolutely dead on. Votes: 0

If you listen, you learn; if you talk, you don't. Votes: 0

In anything really, it's finding the reality. You can't be 'real,' but you can create a reality. And that created reality is what the audience believes in. And that's essential. Because if the audience doesn't believe that, they're never going to trust you. And if they don't trust you, you can't lead them up the mountain. Votes: 0

Life is full of ironies and paradoxes. Votes: 0

The only concession you can make is to what you believe is right. Votes: 0

I think I'd rather do [acting] in the real place. It requires different things, working with green screen, but its an imaginative exercise anyway, the whole business of acting, so it just gives you a bit more to feed the imagination. Unless it's really silly, just two of you stuck in a space with nothing but green screen that's got to be pretty difficult. Votes: 0

I never had any ambition to be a star, or whatever it is called, and I'm still embarrassed at the word. Votes: 0

I think you can fan the flames, but I think in the same way that a mathematician is a mathematician - He's not taught to be a mathematician. He either has a feeling for equations and an understanding and delight in it, not only in the purity of it, but in its beauty as well. Votes: 0

Obviously, the arrogance of my own nature in regards to other people's work would suggest that I think I'm talented. Votes: 0

I think it's interesting to see how things come into and go out of fashion. Votes: 0

Anything which retains interest is optimistic. When the characters become disinterested, it's pessimistic. Does that make sense? Votes: 0

You have to learn to cut your cloth accordingly. But it seems to be a human weakness. Once you start making a lot of money, you just join in with everyone else. It's like the banks, and we've seen what happens there. Votes: 0

I am really the victim of other people's imagination. Votes: 0

I've never known what I've wanted to do. I've never planned anything in my life. Votes: 0

Something like 'Alien,' that was not so easy. If there's any genre I wouldn't mind not having to do anymore, it would be science fiction. It's just all to do with the toys, and there's so much hanging around. Votes: 0

I think, you have to forget about intellect, to a degree. Intuition is very important when you're working with a lens, I believe, for what the lens is doing, too. Votes: 0

I'm really the addition of other peoples' imagination, quite honestly. It's what they see me as, and I'm very happy to comply. I find things are more varied that way. Votes: 0

People say you never retire in this [film] business and I say, well, not until they retire you. Votes: 0

Elephant Man [movie] was much more difficult physically. This had a couple of days. It was quite tricky. I had my leg strapped up behind me and I am a little older now. It was all marvelous, though. He [Bong Joon-ho] is one of the most fabulous directors in the world. Votes: 0

It's a great relief to feel that you're working with someone rather than for someone. You don't feel that you're being tested, as it were. Votes: 0

Acting is an imaginative leap, really. And imaginations prosper in different circumstances. And it's being able - I can't tell you how one does, but one tries to read those circumstances correctly. Votes: 0

I think [ Lars Von Trier] is a fantastic filmmaker. No question. You've got to be ready for him. He's sharp and he's got a sharp tongue and I love that. He doesn't mind it back. Votes: 0

The big problem with literature is people tend to take the dialogue from the book, forgetting that everything that surrounds it is literate, therefore not knowing quite how to put that on screen. Votes: 0

I don't like no confusion. Votes: 0

The first film is everything you want to say and how you want to say it. Lots of directors will do that and do it really well, but the second film is not so easy. Votes: 0

If I'm in theatre, cinema doesn't even cross my mind. Similarly when I'm making a film, theatre doesn't cross my mind. Votes: 0

I've spent a great deal of my life doing independent film, and that is partly because the subject matter interests me and partly because that is the basis of the film industry. That's where the filmmakers come from, it's where they start and sometimes its where they should have stayed. Votes: 0

Very broadly speaking, you can put directors into two areas: One for whom you work, and the other with whom you work. And I prefer the latter, for obvious reasons. Votes: 0

My parents felt that acting was far too insecure. Don't ask me what made them think that painting would be more secure. Votes: 0

I think you can get better in mathematics on a school level, but when you're talking about being a mathematician, I think that's definitely a gift of genes or whatever. Votes: 0

I think it would be very difficult to play somebody if they didn't think they had any virtues or redeeming characteristics. Votes: 0

I have lots of favourite memories but I can't say that I have a favourite film. Votes: 0

We shot ['Sailcloth'] five days down in Cornwall, and you couldn't have asked for a more beautiful place. It was a couple of tough days at sea, but when I say tough it was still enjoyable. Votes: 0

You can see areas where maybe you got a bit lazy, perhaps, or you see when you were really on form. I think an actor is very like a sportsman in that respect. You have periods where you're in terrific form. Votes: 0

We all have our limitations. Votes: 0

If you put on an Oscar Wilde [play], it will interest those who are interested in Oscar Wilde. But it won't interest anybody else, because they won't get that wit. Votes: 0

This whole theory of alienation that intellectuals have been passing on, really is just to stop a lot of ham acting. If you fill something with a proper emotion, it didn't worry him at all. Votes: 0

Some directors involve waiting, and if you want to work with that particular director you're going to have to hang around. Votes: 0

A very, very impressive director, Tomas Alfredson. It's only his second film [ 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'], but he's a real find. Votes: 0

I got used to [ Lars Von Trier] doing the narration for 'Dogville' and 'Manderley.' And I said to him I do these narrations for you but you never put me in a film! So he called my bluff and put me in 'Melancholia' and I was thrilled about that. Votes: 0

I loved working with [ Lars Von Trier], but I've done two films before, so I was quite used to him.He's a man of incredible moods of course, but he's also a hugely perceptive man, and there's no getting away from that. And he's able to put that perception into something like film, so we're very lucky. Votes: 0

[Alfred] Hitchcock was very interested in the image on the screen.As is any good cinema director. That is the language they speak. It is not literature, it is images on screen. Votes: 0

I've done lots of films with first directors, so it's not unusual for me. Votes: 0

I'd say the film to avoid is a director's second film, particularly if his first film was a big success. The second film is where you've really needed to have learned something. Votes: 0

It's quite interesting, looking back at the first one [film about Harry Potter], nobody knew whether or not it was going to be successful as a film. The books were of course already very successful, but that's happened before, where the books were successful and the films weren't at all. But it turned out that they were. Votes: 0

Films don't take as long as people think. 'Harry Potter,' people always used to say, 'Well, my God, do you ever get any time to yourself?' I think I did, in 'Harry Potter,' over a 12 year period I did five days. So it's not exactly exhausting. Votes: 0

I think particularly Daniel [Radcliffe], he knows what he's doing. I'm sure he'll finish up a producer. He really realized what it was, knew the size of it. And it was gigantic, the biggest franchise [Harry Potter] in history. Votes: 0

I love working with Lars [von Trier]! I've worked with him three times. I did the narration of Dogville and Manderlay. Votes: 0

One wonders sometimes, looking at the world, how it's dealing with itself. There are days when you wake up and you feel very optimistic and there are days when you feel pessimistic. Votes: 0

There may be arrangements to have me retired but I don't know. Things happen that I enjoy doing, and as long as I enjoy doing them I'll go about doing them, I guess. Votes: 0

I've got plenty of train memories. I was sent to school when I was eight years old in 1948 in Kent. So I had to go through London in 1948, just after the war. Many ,many strange experiences. Votes: 0

Snowpiercer has both [optimistic and pessimistic]. It was essentially optimistic. The most pessimistic was my part, because of his knowledge. He knows how it started. The status quo, he knows, has to be maintained, otherwise there is no chance. He knows that this revolution is completely understandable and is also commendable. He also knows the negatives. In the end, that's not a very positive position to be in. Votes: 0

I do what interests me when I'm invited and do it as well as I know how and try to get better. That's all. Votes: 0

By the time I came to do the final ones [Harry Potter's film], I was working on something that was massively successful. There was a huge difference in indulgence and all sorts of stuff. A very big difference in peoples' attitudes. They were very pleased with themselves. In human terms, it was quite interesting to see the difference. Votes: 0

I felt, you know, body and soul, as it were. But, of course, I mean, I - at that age, I didn't think in terms of being professional. I didn't know anything about it. That happened later. Votes: 0

I'm besotted by [Kirsten Dunst] now. I think she's just wonderful. I can't think for a second that however much she'd worked in America, she would never have had the chance to play [a role in Lars Von Trier's 'Melancholia' ] like that. You have to get outside of the States to do something like that. Votes: 0

'The Elephant Man' was hugely enjoyable to do. I thought the one stage, when Chris Tucker did the first makeup and it took 12 hours, I thought they'd actually found a way for me not to enjoy filming. Votes: 0

I often say, with something like 'The Elephant Man,' had it been an American series for television, where you have to sign your life away for seven years...well, maybe I would never have made 'Sailcloth.' Votes: 0

On the other hand, you get other films that are spread over a much longer period of time and it's entirely exhausting. But there's always light at the end of the tunnel with a film. Votes: 0

Often I don't read novels. The script is more important, that's the springboard to your imagination, really. Peripheral information can be interesting to read but you can't use it when it's not in the script. Votes: 0

I've never done a [Berthold] Brecht. In the 1960s when the Berliner Ensemble came over [to England] with Helene Weigel [Brecht's second wife], I saw all the Berlin actors. It was an amazing time, very exciting early 1960s. Votes: 0

I thought ['Sailcloth'] was a terrific script. Elfar Adalsteins, the director, is bound to be a director we'll hear from, and the whole thing was really enjoyable. Votes: 0

The image onscreen takes you forward, it's the driving force of the piece and it's also the information that you're given. Votes: 0

Bong Joon-ho is enormously sensitive to performance. He knows what he needs to see and that's all he needs to shoot. He is so daring. We don't do that in the west. We shoot everything. Votes: 0

The great joke is that a realist is an optimistic pessimist. That's very witty. Whether it's truthful or not, that I don't know. Votes: 0

If I hadn't been a part of [Harry Potter] I would have been deeply upset. Votes: 0

I stopped asking a long time ago, "why would you want me to play that?" I'm an actor. That's what I do. Votes: 0

If it's a low-brow bawdy comedy, it's got to stand the chance of succeeding as such. If it's an intellectual piece, a drama, and so forth. And of course, once you've determined the level of the piece, do it the best you know how. And then don't make concessions. To audiences, or to pursestrings, or whatever. Votes: 0

With [Fred] Zinnemann I did A Man For All Seasons. He was my screen godfather. I'm happy to say he was. Votes: 0

I find it difficult to say, like "which child do you prefer the most", and its a sort of surface choice. I've never known how to quite answer that one adequately. Votes: 0

From John Huston to Fred Zinnemann and Richard Fleischer and all those great American directors. Votes: 0

The director [Elfar Adalsteins] came to me through my agent and I had a read of the script [of the "Sailcloth]. I thought immediately this is someone who is writing for the cinema. Not having to go through the tedious business of taking something from literature and making that awful leap that is so difficult to make anyway, from literature to cinema. It's refreshing to be able to deal with a subject like that, to be written where the driving force is the image on screen and you don't need any words. The more that we can do that [in film], the better. Votes: 0

If you've got a great crew it's intense, but its quite short. 'The Elephant Man' was longer than most, for an independent film. That was a 14 week film. But it was because of the intrinsic difficulties. We had to invent a different way of filming, because the makeup was so long. A working day for me with a full makeup on was nineteen hours. So obviously you couldn't do that twice running. Votes: 0

I'm very director oriented. Votes: 0

In the States it's more and more difficult to get an independent film off the ground, and you certainly wont get the opportunity to play something like that in a studio movie. Votes: 0

Lotte Lenya was all emotion. She wasn't anything but emotion. She was not an intellectual. Votes: 0

[Bong Joon-ho'] is quite different but technically, he is as clever as [Alfred] Hitchcock. That's saying something. In humanitarian terms, I think he is much cleverer. He is one of the best directors I've worked with. I absolutely adore working with him. Votes: 0

It's amazing how quickly human beings adapt, isn't it? It was such a great crew, and David [Lynch] was wonderful to work with [on 'The Elephant Man']. It was a very thrilling time, actually. Votes: 0

What I like about [Berthold] Brecht, it's very interesting. When Helene Weigel came over and somebody talked about Lotte Lenya and said "well, she wasn't alienating." And Weigel said "No, no, no. Why, Lotte Lenya was so true - who cares?" She said: "Berti only developed the theory of alienation in order to stop bad acting." I heard her say that. Now that's brilliant. Votes: 0

Be true to what you want to say, or whatever style it is that you've chosen or genre you've chosen. Do it well! My criteria always has been that the piece must stand the chance of succeeding on the level it's intended to succeed on. Votes: 0

I left drama school and went straight into a 10-week film for which I was paid $75 I might say, which for 1962 was one heck of a lot of money. Votes: 0

I was keen on sports-that's how my nose got this way. It's not actually broken; the nose was just pushed up a little bit and moved over. It's an aquiline nose, quite Irish. Votes: 0

My springboard is always the script. Even if the script is taken from a novel, I often haven't read the novel... . Votes: 0

We're all far too afraid of being so arrogant to say "Either you can or you can't." Votes: 0