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

John Hurt

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John Hurt
Age: 77 †
Born: 1940
Born: January 22
Died: 2017
Died: January 27
Actor
Character Actor
Explorer
Film Actor
Stage Actor
Television Actor
Voice Actor
John Vincent Hurt
Sir John Vincent Hurt
Sir John Hurt
People
Pretending
Essence
Game
Games
Acting
Business
Whole

More quotes by John Hurt

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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.
John Hurt
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The common misconception is that we create films for ourselves. And I really don't do it for myself. I get stopped in the street by people saying, Do you mind if I say this about your work? Do I mind? I'm delighted. I do it for you. It's not for me. It's my living, yes, sure.
John Hurt
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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.
John Hurt
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I never had any ambition to be a star, or whatever it is called, and I'm still embarrassed at the word.
John Hurt
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The British tradition, basically, is to go to the character. And the Hollywood tradition, shall we say, is basically to take the character to the performer.
John Hurt
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People are not what they seem to be according to their looks.
John Hurt
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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.
John Hurt
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I'm very director oriented.
John Hurt
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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.
John Hurt
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[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.
John Hurt
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Once you've started to dig a hole, you can't get out of it.
John Hurt
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I stopped asking a long time ago, why would you want me to play that? I'm an actor. That's what I do.
John Hurt
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My parents felt that acting was far too insecure. Don't ask me what made them think that painting would be more secure.
John Hurt
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Society is constantly recalibrating, redefining what it considers to be moral and immoral.
John Hurt
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We all have our limitations.
John Hurt
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It's quite a dangerous career move to go wilfully on making films that may not find a distributor.
John Hurt
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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.
John Hurt
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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.
John Hurt
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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.
John Hurt
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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.
John Hurt