Annette Bening Quotes on Movies (13 Quotes)

It's a thrill because the movie was made for love. We did it because we thought it could be very special ... It's absolutely a thrill to be a part of something that has meant so much to so many people. We're all just thrilled that people like it.

I don't see myself as competing with other actresses. I mean, I went through a time when I was in New York, and I was going to lots of auditions and trying to get parts, but even then, you're not really competing with the other actresses. There is a competition going on, but it's not like something you can win in that way.

I remember hearing someone say that good acting is more about taking off a mask than putting one on, and in movie acting, certainly that's true. With the camera so close, you can see right down into your soul, hopefully. So being able to do that in a way is terrifying, and in another way, truly liberating. And I like that about it.

Acting is not about being famous, it's about exploring the human soul.

He finds me and wants to have a baby with me, and there are problems, ... It wouldn't be a movie if there weren't dramatic problems, as my daughter tells me, my 8-year-old.

The tension I feel is the moment they say, 'Action!' Movies are like lightning in a bottle, and you always want to find when you possibly can catch a surprising moment.

I knew I wanted children in my life. The acting was always in relation to it. Life at home is chaos. They're wonderful. They're such interesting human beings. I just love it. I'm lucky.

We all perform our lives in a way. And the actor is a perfect metaphor to get at that theme of 'how do we find our authentic selves?' And that we all - whether we're actors or not - perform ourselves. As a way of searching. As a way of fumbling around and trying to say, is this my voice? Is this who I am?

The reason, I think, is that Jean is not sympathetic. She's not a nice girl. She's not out to win people. I think that's why the movies never got made.

I didn't do a movie until I was almost 30. I'm grateful for that because it gave me a chance to be an adult in the world and do work in the regional theater that very few people cared about. I loved it and I wanted to do that stuff.

It's wonderful, isn't it, that so many people on the movie are being recognized, ... We're this wonderful little family of people that did this kind of small picture. We just did it because we thought it might be a good movie and we loved the script.

I didn't picture myself as a movie actress. I began to think about it around college. I remember thinking, "Well somebody has to be in them," so maybe I could do that eventually. It's all been a surprise.

And if there's anything movies can do in a way that I just love, and I love as an audience is, "Show me something I don't know about. Show me something I haven't seen."