Clive Owen Quotes & Sayings

No matter who the character is and how big their role, that each person in the story is a human being and deserves respect. Even if they're in the story for ten seconds, I didn't want you to just see them as this entity passing through that's serving all of the other people. — Clive Owen

After drama school I did a seven-month tour of Europe performing in 'Romeo and Juliet.' I played Romeo. — Clive Owen

I like to play characters that are convincing, that aren't just straightforward and nice. — Clive Owen

I always used to say to myself, I'm going to die of lung cancer. That's the choice I'm making. — Clive Owen

I live in London and I love living in a gun free environment and long may it continue. — Clive Owen

For some people, an event happens and they are thrown into a tabloid feeding ground. — Clive Owen

I certainly am not a great believer in over-rehearsing between actors, and certainly not doing the dialogue too much. — Clive Owen

I dread karaoke. I hate karaoke. I can't sing - that is why. — Clive Owen

There's something to play if there's conflict going on. Whatever that conflict is, that's where drama is; if the character is grappling with something you've got something to play, there's layers to it. — Clive Owen

Obviously, I'm attracted to heavier movies. — Clive Owen

When there's an idiot driving crazily in front of you, that can wind the best of you up. — Clive Owen

The worst piece of advice I've gotten in my whole career is from somebody who said, 'Remember, it's all about likeability.' — Clive Owen

A lot of the projects that I do, I like to be involved with earlier. I just feel that, certainly from an acting point of view, it's easier to do my job, if I'm included in what the intentions are, for why people are doing what they're doing, especially with a director. — Clive Owen

I find sometimes that if you do too many takes, it starts to become meaningless to me. It is hard to sustain it for me. I don't want to do too many. — Clive Owen

Outside of being home with my family, I prefer a crowd. — Clive Owen

I'm one of those actors where usually I'll read a script, and then I'll have a flurry of notes. I'll ask a hundred questions about things, and really get in there and examine it. — Clive Owen

I don't play video games. — Clive Owen

I can honestly say I've never chosen a film because where it's shot is convenient. — Clive Owen

I'm sort of one of those weird actors who whenever I do a play, I think, 'Oh, we should film this,' as opposed to have to belt it out of ourselves in a theater auditorium. — Clive Owen

I don't like it when people are trying too hard. That goes for clothes, for acting, for everything. It's just not good when it seems like you're making too much of an effort. — Clive Owen

You won't find a better young actor than Jaeden Lieberher. I ended up having one of the best times with him, really. Going to work with him every day was a treat. — Clive Owen

It's just lovely to be involved in a movie that does go back to the basics - characters and great writing. — Clive Owen

I was not a very fearful kid, really. — Clive Owen

I am comfortable around babies and children because I have two of my own. — Clive Owen

I always want my options to be open. — Clive Owen

When you're doing those operation scenes, you not only have to be on top of the dialogue and the rhythm of the dialogue and what's happening dramatically, but you've got to technically get the rhythm right, so that everything is fitting with the dialogue at the right time. And you're performing the operation to the audience that's watching it. Thackery has to present it, as well. In some ways, that's the most challenging. — Clive Owen

For me really good acting is about subtext. — Clive Owen

Ultimately, to have a career in movies, to a certain extent, certainly in England, you can't sustain a career in just English movies. — Clive Owen

There's certainly a huge element of luck in me ending up where I've ended up. — Clive Owen

Parenthood and family come first for me, and when I'm not working I'm cool with the Teletubbies. — Clive Owen

There's not a big gun culture in England at all still. — Clive Owen

For an actor, it's very important to get a clear idea of what a director wants, and their intention for what they want to get out of a scene and how they want to shoot it. Having that knowledge is really valuable, for an actor. It means you can deliver more. — Clive Owen

I don't think I've ever had a real fashion disaster. — Clive Owen

The theater's a live thing, and film is, to some extent, a discipline where you're putting everything together and trying to execute something exactly. You do it away from people and then you present it at the end. — Clive Owen

I'm a big fan of comedies and dramas, and I watch tons of movies. — Clive Owen

When you are shooting action, there is a satisfying thing because your objectives are very clear. — Clive Owen

Rudeness can make me angry. — Clive Owen

I certainly don't think of myself as an action hero. — Clive Owen

I watch a film and the most important thing to me is what I think of the movie. — Clive Owen

The financial implode is bound to be reflected in the movies that are being made, there's no question. — Clive Owen

I just love playing good guys. — Clive Owen

I'm just constantly trying to renew and give myself new challenges and push myself to uncomfortable places, trying to get better. — Clive Owen

I'm a huge fan of 'The Exorcist.' — Clive Owen

Action scenes are not that different from other scenes. — Clive Owen

Very often on films, even without a producer credit, I'll be involved, very early on. I want to be there as the thing is taking shape. — Clive Owen

I'd love to do a Western. — Clive Owen

I do a lot better if I sit around and think about a character for a couple of months. — Clive Owen

I guess I'm not that metrosexual. My bathroom cabinet is hardly overflowing with products. I only really have my stuff for shaving. I can't honestly say I moisturise, though I probably should. — Clive Owen

I think there is a lot of overexplaining both in writing and acting. People don't need to be hit on the head. — Clive Owen

Jewelery isn't really my thing, but I've always got my eye on people's watches. — Clive Owen

Good dialogue is very important. — Clive Owen

As I get older, I've been having a better and better time. — Clive Owen

I don't do facials or any of that stuff, but my workout regime does tend to depend on whether I have to take my top off in my next film because otherwise I know I'm too heavy. — Clive Owen

I feel for those 19-year-olds who get thrust into the limelight that young. — Clive Owen

I've got an age that I do think of myself. — Clive Owen

I've got actor friends who didn't get breaks, who struggle and worry about things that I'm fortunate not to have to worry about. — Clive Owen

I'd like to do a film which is funny. — Clive Owen

It's important to me that everyone is treated with respect. — Clive Owen

I'm not better than anyone else. — Clive Owen

I'm not a great one for classic horror or cheap thrills. — Clive Owen

I really believe you can carry yourself in such a way that people don't notice you. — Clive Owen

My wife needs her freedom just like me. — Clive Owen

When I started in the theater, the joy for me was playing different parts, and I get set alight by different people and different worlds. The biggest joy for me is jumping around and going from that to this to that, never feeling that I'm any one thing - because I'm not, and we as people aren't. — Clive Owen

You're always dealing with emotions as an actor. — Clive Owen

I'm English and I'm used to coming from a world of period dramas, where there's a very polite restraint to everything. Everybody's sort of sitting in drawing rooms. — Clive Owen

The sexiest part of the body is the eyes. That's what I believe. — Clive Owen

One of the things I love, more than anything, is jumping around and playing lots of different parts. I love the variety of playing different characters. — Clive Owen

I'm always very aware of the physical challenges of work. I train much more than I did when I was in my twenties, and I've done some very physical films, and I always get properly prepared for them and get as fit as I can. — Clive Owen

As a teenager I was crazy about David Bowie. He was a huge inspiration for me. I dressed a little bit crazily in school and dyed my hair every colour under the sun. — Clive Owen

I think anybody who bets on horses and says they win is probably a liar. — Clive Owen

Film is very much about capturing the essence of things - if you feel it, and you've got the right person shooting it, it'll come across. Theater's a different animal; it's physically different and requires a different discipline. In the theater, you're mining the same material, constantly honing the same thing, executing it and keeping it alive and fresh. — Clive Owen

Without faith, without belief in something, what are we? — Clive Owen

You see these actresses who have had Botox or something else done, and it takes you out of the film. — Clive Owen

I go home to London in between jobs, and in London, my life has nothing to do with the business. It's a family life, hanging with friends. — Clive Owen

If you are making a script based on a book it can be frustrating going back to the source novel, because you're turning the story into a totally different thing; the narrative of film is different from that of a book. — Clive Owen

I go off and make movies; I come home, and I'm a dad and I hang with my girls. — Clive Owen

I love to mix it up. I love to keep doing different things. — Clive Owen

I'm competitive with myself, not at the expense of everything around me. I never wanted to be a movie star. I just wanted to act. — Clive Owen

I'm just a working actor. — Clive Owen

I am a big soccer fan, and a very big Liverpool fan. — Clive Owen

Belfast during the Troubles looked like a different world. — Clive Owen

The idea of goodies and baddies has always fascinated me, and what people consider to be a goodie or a baddie, because I've never seen any of my characters as baddies. — Clive Owen

If you explode onto the scene at a very young age, there are so many people pulling you in different directions. It takes time to recalibrate and see what's important. — Clive Owen

Very often when you see families it's all perfect and neat, and parenting isn't like that. You do have constant negotiations. Things are ever developing and ever changing, and you constantly have to evaluate how you deal with your kids. — Clive Owen

Something I don't like seeing in other people is naked ambition, when somebody is really pushing hard to get to where they want to be. That's the way I look at that word - like you must be stepping on someone to get there. And I've never been comfortable with that. — Clive Owen

After writing a page, Hemingway would let it float to the ground. He never crumpled pages - he believed that if you crumpled them, you'd be insane in a year. — Clive Owen

I couldn't bear a marriage in which one partner hinges on the other. — Clive Owen

The further you run from your sins, the more exhausted you are when they catch up to you. — Clive Owen

I think I am more attracted to characters with a subtext, whatever that is and they don't necessarily have to be virtuous, but they have to at least be human. — Clive Owen

I've done a number of things based on real people or true stories or based on books, and I'm a great believer that you have to be true to the script. — Clive Owen

I actually really love working with young actors because they're so responsive and instinctive, and it's a much less honed craft that they're employing. — Clive Owen

I treat any scene the same - dialogue, action - you're still creating something in character. It's all acting, fighting. — Clive Owen

I do wear suits all the time. — Clive Owen

The medical operations are so challenging because they're so technical, as well. I assumed before we started that we would do the classic thing, when it comes to the operations, that we would do all of these inserts with real doctors. — Clive Owen

The thing about Hemingway that people forget is that all the stuff he did was at a time where people weren't traveling that much. At 19 he travels to Italy. He goes to the Spanish Civil War. He goes to China, he goes to Africa so at that time to travel that much is really incredible. — Clive Owen

I don't just like to have 1 take, but not too many. I think it is good to keep it alive. — Clive Owen

I had to ride a horse once. In 'King Arthur.' I said I could ride, but I had to call for lessons on the day the deal was signed. I started out on this little chunky thing and slowly moved up. It was months of work. — Clive Owen

Acting is all about likability. — Clive Owen

I can't remember ever being involved in a fight in a movie where I haven't done most of it. — Clive Owen

As far as career goes, make sure you're in it for the right reasons - and make sure that the work itself is the most important thing. — Clive Owen