Words matter. These are the best David Wenham Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
Hollywood’s a big place, and they make all sorts of different movies. Some movies I’m attracted to; a lot of the movies I’m not. But there are some terrifically talented people over there that I’d love to work with.
I think you have to find the humanity in the character and then the deterioration is a part of the process – the journey of the character. It’s like playing King Lear. You can start off as a nice old man who finishes up crazy.
Acting, to me, is being given the freedom and ability to play, and that’s – that’s what I love most about it. I feel very comfortable in playing, whether it be in front of a camera or on stage.
I’d love to work with the people who really got the film industry going again through the ’70s: Peter Weir, Bruce Beresford, Gillian Armstrong, Fred Schepisi.
As we mature and grow older we collect a lot of baggage, and a lot of that stuff you collect on life’s journey gets in the way of acting. My kids can imagine a character and transform in the blink of an eye. It’s so simple for kids, so complex for adults.
Listening and hearing are two different things, and acting is comprehending what the person is saying, thinking how it makes you feel and responding. That’s the key to really honest, truthful, compelling performance.
I used to do impersonations: Harry Butler in the wild, or I’d do Gough Whitlam.
My biggest ambition when I was younger was to appear on stage at what was then Nimrod, which is the theatre where my father used to take me on Sunday afternoons to see matinees. The most extraordinary things used to occur on that stage.
There’s different ways of getting into character. There’s what’s called ‘the outside,’ in which is finding the physicality of the character first. To give an example, in ‘Gettin’ Square’ – Johnny Spitieri – that’s how I found that character. I knew those people that I’d seen up at Kings Cross. I knew how they sounded.
I would love to direct a feature and have Robert Connolly produce it. That would be really fab.
Some people have heard of The Method, which originally goes back to Stanislavski… he gave you six major pointers whereby you became that character and tried to fool your mind psychologically. That’s it in a nutshell. Daniel Day Lewis is an example of somebody like that who stays in character between takes.
Some people would say I’ve made it now.
My life at the moment is a bit like my wardrobe. Organized chaos.
I’ve ended up spending more time in front of a camera than on stage, but the stage is where I come from.
I’ll never forget anything about Middle Earth. That’s part of my memory now so I won’t miss anything.
Australia is a phenomenally beautiful country, and every time I go away and come back, it never ceases to amaze me.
In all honesty, if somebody asked me the secret of auditioning for Americans, I don’t know. Often, I do what’s called self-taping for America. I go over there quite a lot to sit in a room and do stuff in front of people. You feel like a performing monkey. It’s bizarre.
I do regard myself as very lucky.
I think actors do make really, really wonderful directors.
I have a sort of long-term plan to direct. I’m pragmatic about it. I realize I don’t need to rush it or force it.
