Stephen Lang quotes

Stephen Lang is an American actor renowned for his powerful performances on stage and screen. Notable for his roles in films such as "Avatar" and "Don't Breathe," he has built a diverse career in film, television, and theater. He is highly regarded for his intensity and versatility as an actor. Here are 32 of his quotes:

I've always been curious about why one man jumps out of a foxhole with a grenade and charges a machine gun nest, and his buddy next to him sits there cowering. And my feeling is that the difference is tiny between the two. (Stephen Lang)
You try to go where the great scripts are, if you can, or you go where the not great scripts are, because that's what's being offered to you. View quote
Stephen Lang
I don't want to, in any way, characterize a race or a people or get accused of racial profiling, but the Irish, as lyrical and romantic as they can be in their poetry, they can be every bit as repressed in their personal relations. View quote
Stephen Lang
I have a penchant for playing God's clowns. Actually, I played Nijinsky once, and he used to call himself God's clown. View quote
Stephen Lang
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. View quote
Stephen Lang
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. View quote
Stephen Lang
When Steven Spielberg comes calling, it behooves you to seriously consider it. View quote
Stephen Lang
As you get older, stuff starts to wear down. I can't play four basketball games a week anymore. It takes me three days to recover from one. I'm a little older, a little scrappier. So now I do yoga instead. And whatever else happens in the day, I'm set up in the best way possible. I feel great. I'm so flexible. View quote
Stephen Lang
I love scenes that are just emotional give and take. By the same token, action sequences are great to do. They have their own unique demands and requirements. So I take it as it comes, and hopefully you can get a good balance of all of that stuff. View quote
Stephen Lang
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. View quote
Stephen Lang
With correction, and given the chance, 'Terra Nova' can and will deliver seasons of transcendent images and story-telling. Failing to renew 'Terra Nova' is shortsighted, as myopic as it would have been to scrap the Hubble. 'Terra Nova' is the Hubble Telescope of television. (Stephen Lang)
My Hamlet was about as alienated as you can get. Mine was a bitter and lonely prince. Valid, I think, but maybe tough to root for. I think that romance was missing. View quote
Stephen Lang
I always have a contract with a character. Even when he's unappealing. The contract is to give him his due. To tell his story. And to keep his secrets. View quote
Stephen Lang
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. View quote
Stephen Lang
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. View quote
Stephen Lang
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. View quote
Stephen Lang
I can't imagine a more profoundly exciting experience than I had working on 'Avatar.' And whether I'm ever part of it again, I'll always be very proud that I was a part of it. View quote
Stephen Lang
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. View quote
Stephen Lang
You can play anyone if you're open enough. It's a form of possession. Each time you work on something, you allow yourself to be possessed by creating the environment for it. Then you allow the possession to happen - but not at the expense of your sanity or of your identity. View quote
Stephen Lang
On some level, acting is the art of pretend, and you have to have a highly cultivated sense of imagination. You have to be able to see things that aren't there, no matter what aspect of acting, whether it's green screen, whether it's on stage, whether it's anything else, whether you're working on the radio. View quote
Stephen Lang
My advice to actors? To successful actors, it's, 'sock it away,' and unsuccessful actors, it's just, 'Just keep at it. Don't do it unless you have to do it, and if you have to do it, keep - you've got to keep your instrument in shape.' You just got to keep on getting better. If you're not getting better, you're standing still. (Stephen Lang)
My job, professionally, is tapping into stuff. We've all got it. But, I just am fortunate enough that, beyond the age of 11, it's what I do professionally. View quote
Stephen Lang
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. View quote
Stephen Lang
I am very happy acting, and just have never gone at, or been bitten by the directing bug to the extent where I'm willing to put acting aside. If offered the opportunity, I think I could do a good job with the right material. View quote
Stephen Lang
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. View quote
Stephen Lang

Stephen Lang

Stephen Lang - Image
Photo: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0
Occupation: American Actor
Born: July 11, 1952
Quotes count: 32