From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
written word is the base of culture, the spine. The other limbs and torso that attach to the spine, still depend upon the spine. Without the written word, there can be no other form of communication….
When we look at a photograph, knowing that it is a photograph, we have a distinctive kind of experience: a visual confrontation with remote but actual objects and events.
Authenticity- for me- is incredibly important. It's easy to spot the difference between acting and authentic performance- even though it may seem a contradiction in terms. You can tell when you see it, or when you experience it.
There's something intrinsically sensual about jewellery, you wear it on your skin, it's a part of you and it embodies and imbues the personality and lustre of the wearer. There's something about gold and stones in particular which- for me- have a magical element.
Without the internet and globalization, Ai Weiwei, as you know him, would not possible. My art comes from those influences and the persistent struggle to understand our time.
The greatest film-makers have an ability to work beyond the genre. Kubrick, Scorsese and even the great Ford who made Westerns, but transcended them. There's something about the vision of these film-makers that can use the supporting framework of a genre but create something which appeals to a wider story and audience.
The best portraits happen when you strip away all the pretense, all the masks people wear, and you find that raw, honest moment. That's when magic happens.
Despite my anxiety and the constraints that sometimes hold us back, acting connects us to something larger. It's a business, sure, but there's a steep thrill in the moments of performance. The thrill of feeling truly alive, of connecting deeply with someone else, even in imaginary circumstances. That thrill of creation is my guiding star.
an object must be useful before being beautiful.
As actors, we are taught to show up ready to explore what might happen without a clear sense of the outcome. In a performance, you live in the unknown—you rehearse extensively, but the live performance can unfold in any number of ways. This requires you to be nimble, flexible, and curious.
It serves society and improves quality of life. It's a physical manifestation of the society's wishes to be civilised! …public domain being the obvious place which encapsulates this as buildings, alongside being art and science, are part of the public domain.
Grayson Perry once said that, 'art is our way of creating the narrative to what goes on around us…' and that really stuck with me. As silly as the discos are, they are actually how our family have made a story out of our world being turned upside down.