Stephen Lang
Stephen Lang
Stephen Langis an American actor and playwright. He started in Broadway theatre, but is more widely known for his film roles in Gods and Generalsand Avatar. From 2004 to 2006, he was a co-artistic director of the Actors Studio...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth11 July 1952
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
interesting bravery theme
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.
play creating identity
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.
jobs philosophy able
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.
clown used playing-god
I have a penchant for playing God's clowns. Actually, I played Nijinsky once, and he used to call himself God's clown.
determination way fortitude
Fortitude, determination... in a way they're things that I idealize myself and am curious about.
sunday men thinking
Occasionally, I have time to go to the theater, and I think for a minute, 'Man, I'd really love to be doing a play right now.' Because I loved doing plays when I was doing them. Then I think, 'I want to do it right now, but will I want to do that Sunday matinee in six weeks?'
kids voice soul
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.
commitment play roles
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.
gun men two
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.
different roles location
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.
successful advice get-better
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.
war thinking reason
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.
focus hitting lines
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.
hate character men
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.