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Your primary tools, as an actor, are observation and imagination. You can pretty much get everything you need from that, and you do. It brings back that element of pretend.

Stephen Lang

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Stephen Lang
Age: 72
Born: 1952
Born: July 11
Actor
Film Actor
Stage Actor
Television Actor
New York City
New York
Actors
Element
Back
Observation
Everything
Brings
Need
Tools
Needs
Elements
Much
Actor
Primaries
Pretty
Primary
Imagination
Pretend

More quotes by Stephen Lang

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I've always been curious as to why one man jumps out of a fox-hole with a grenade and charges a machine gun nest and his buddy, who sits right there next to him, sits there cowering. My feeling is that the different is tiny between the two.
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In a rehearsal room, your real resource as an actor aren't the things around you your resources are your imagination and your director and the other actors. In those close quarters, your imagination and your skills are what you turn to.
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I like to understand, very specifically, what it is I'm seeing, and where it is and where it's going, and a lot of that is just hitting the mark and following the dotted line. But, that's good too because there's concentration and focus that's involved in that.
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The truth is, I'm a character guy. That's how I see myself. I always see the role as being far more interesting and important than I am... not all actors approach it that way.
Stephen Lang
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Hamlet, that's the only role there is, finally. The only role. After that, you settle down and only do the fun things on stage.
Stephen Lang
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I wouldn't say 'Avatar' changed my life, but it definitely changed my career.
Stephen Lang
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Fortitude, determination... in a way they're things that I idealize myself and am curious about.
Stephen Lang
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The idea of being in a television series is a wonderful one to be considered, but you want to make sure it's the right thing for you because if you are fortunate enough to have something go for a long term, you want to make sure that it's something that you really want to be spending a bulk of your time on.
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My favorite show from the '60s was 'Combat.' And maybe 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.'
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I get a lot of people coming up to me and saying, I really hate you. And they say it in the nicest possible way and I accept it. It's the people who come up to you and say, I really liked your character. Man, he was right! Those are the ones you worry about.
Stephen Lang
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My criteria for doing theater has always been slightly different than my criteria with movies, in that there are a lot of reasons to do films, having to do with location, money, and first and foremost having to do with script and role and director.
Stephen Lang
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There are themes that somehow stir me and that I find very interesting. They're themes that deal with leadership, the nature of bravery and courage, and how to define those.
Stephen Lang
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Theater, because of the commitment, it has to be a great role and a great play to me. It takes a lot out of you.
Stephen Lang
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When Steven Spielberg comes calling, it behooves you to seriously consider it.
Stephen Lang
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My philosophy is, 'Show up, shut up, and do your job,' and if you do it to the satisfaction of your director and the public, you're likely to be able to do it again.
Stephen Lang
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I think that war is diplomacy. There have been wars that have been fought for righteous reasons and there are wars that have had to be fought. Indeed, there will continue to be.
Stephen Lang
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Acting can be a very reactive profession. Acting is a fantastic thing, and it's my life, but writing is also part of me too, so I did it and in so doing took responsibility for my own life.
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I'm always reading plays, and when I find something that I really want to do, then I'll make the time to do it.
Stephen Lang
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I've played the clarinet since I was a kid. I love to sing, but I'm not much of a singer. Let's say that when it comes to vocalizing, I have the soul of Billy Bigelow but the voice of Jigger Cragan.
Stephen Lang
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I don't believe that being against the war can be equated with being non-supportive of our troops.
Stephen Lang