Anne-Marie Duff Quotes
-
People can be a bit flagrant when they're having an affair. Most of the time, there's an element of it where they want to be discovered because they're in crisis. They need the boil to be burst, in some way, for a resolution.
→ -
I only went along to youth theatre with a friend when I was young to try to make myself a bit more sociable. But the whole thing was quite sore; it really hurt me trying to get into drama school. It was a world I knew nothing about - it was very middle class; all that usual stuff. But I was young, determined, and I just went for it.
→ -
For actors, being successful is generally getting a job. If you can work a lot, you're really successful. If you work a lot on projects that are interesting and intelligent and great fun to be part of, then you're hugely successful. And I feel hugely successful. I can't believe that I get to be involved with the projects and the people I work with.
→ -
The first thing that attracts me to any script is the writing. If I find myself becoming lost in a good yarn, then I feel certain that others will, too.
→ -
Any kind of conflict draws me to a role.
→ -
As I get older, I want to draw on my experience to make roles better. I see that in the older women who inspire me - their experience makes them better.
→ -
I suppose it's whether you want to be a famous person, or whether you want to be an actor. You have to decide what your priorities are. Great actor, huge star. Sometimes, the two walk hand in hand. Most of the time, they don't.
→ -
The level of sacrifice in the world of dancing is incredibly intense, that work ethic if nothing else - get up, go to class, rehearsal, performance, get up, go to class - that's your life, and it's like that for a finite time, usually.
→ -
I am very lucky. I have known wonderful romantic love in my life but to actually see this little creature and find him to be the most beautiful creature in the world. I know all mothers and fathers feel that way.
→ -
I try very hard not to take work home, but it can be tricky. Sometimes it feels as if you are wearing your costume underneath your own clothes! I suppose things are always ticking away in the back of your mind.
→ -
I think it helps to have a good old-fashioned trajectory, plodding along. Obviously one has an ego and it's really easy to have that ego tickled, but what helps me get through the night is if I concentrate on just quality of work so that I don't panic about my profile.
→ -
You just grow up and learn to think instead of just feel.
→ -
That's the thing - you do a job like 'Shameless,' and suddenly that's why you can get a job like 'The Virgin Queen', not because of all the classical theatre you've done. But we can be very snippy about television. It's absolutely the most potent and powerful form of storytelling we have.
→ -
In theatre, there's the director, the writer, and below them the actor. In film, it's the actors who are most important. That goes against the grain for me.
→ -
The experience of having a child does crack you wide open. I felt like I suddenly had to rebuild the skin that I'd grown over the years before having a child. Perhaps that might be quite interesting in terms of acting.
→ -
You want to have enough of a profile to be able to do all the work you can, but at the same time you want to have your own space. But there are a lot of actors who achieve it, a lot of movie stars even, people like Emily Watson and Cate Blanchett. They seem to be able to carry on with their lives and still produce wonderful, high-profile work.
→ -
I think American drama is at its best when it takes the domestic and makes it epic, like a Greek tragedy in the front room.
→ -
I just would like to keep going. If I kept getting the kind of work that I've been getting for the last 20 years for the next 20, I'd be a bloody Dame of the British Empire. I'd be so happy.
→ -
I'm not a great beauty. That's not me.
→ -
Healthy love, I always think, is... wanting the person you love to be more of themselves. And I think for a parent that's a challenge, because you have to let a baby spread its wings.
→ -
I think creative people need to do a bit of, you know, tuning into every radio station - you just do, otherwise you don't know much about other people. You kind of have to learn a bit about yourself so you can work out how we all behave and why we do the things we do.
→ -
There are some roles you just don't say 'no' to. Those compass points: you get them so rarely as an actress.
→ -
Nothing is more diminishing than trying to control success or hold on to things.
→ -
I'm a right pain in the hole for my agent. I won't take certain parts if I think they're offensive or banal. For instance, I won't do a film if I think it's full of violence for violence's sake, or a television drama if I don't think it's intelligent writing.
→ -
I was quite shy. I used to write stories all the time, and I think that was a worry for my parents.
→ -
People at a point of conflict are always the most interesting stories to tell.
→ -
I think age is sometimes just a number. But it's a real joy. Young actors don't come with any of the baggage that we load ourselves up with. They're not worried about their profile, they're not worried about how good they look, or all the nonsense. They just tell the story and ask: "What happens in this scene?" Well, I'll do that then. And professionally it's good for you because it means that you're forced to do the same thing, and that's always a good thing.
→ -
I sometimes think it's like a weird elastic band. The more tragic your work is, the quicker you snap back. There's a catharsis in telling a miserable old tale; you get rid of demons.
→ -
There are people out there with three jobs and small children. Being an actor is a walk in the park compared to working as a cleaner overnight. I'm lucky I'm not plucking chickens.
→ -
I was very lucky in that my parents were very broad-minded. Because they had come from another country and hadn't been able to fulfill their dreams, they wanted me to be more of myself, if you know what I mean.
→
Related Authors
-
Romola Garai Actress -
Thomas Brodie-Sangster Actor -
Brendan Gleeson Actor -
Sam Taylor-Wood Filmmaker -
John Crowley Author -
Helena Bonham Carter Actress -
Mark Strong Film actor -
Kerry Condon Television actress -
Sophia Tolstaya Diarist -
Colin Firth Film actor -
Terence Rattigan Dramatist -
Emmy Rossum Film actress -
Aaron Taylor-Johnson Actor -
James McAvoy Actor -
Sarah Gavron Film director -
Carey Mulligan Actress -
S.J. Watson Writer -
Abi Morgan Playwright -
Thea Sharrock Theatre Director -
Kristin Scott Thomas Actress