A biography for Martin Landauhasn’t been written yet.
“I hung around with Jason Robards, Richard Harris, Robert Shaw, Richard Burton. I knew not to match them for drinks.”
“I'm a big believer that an actor should be able to pick up any piece of material and act it, the way a good musician can.”
“I studied with Strasberg, Elia Kazan. They raised the bar. They weren't easy to please, and they made you achieve the best you could do. That's what a teacher does: he infuses you with passion for something.”
“I did 12 shows in 13 weeks at a summer theater in Maine where we were paid $35 a week. After taxes and $25 for room and board, I had enough money for a pack of cigarettes and a bowl of lobster bisque.”
“The winners shouldn't necessarily win, and the losers shouldn't necessarily lose.”
“I always tried to play the bad guys as guys who didn't know they were bad guys. There are villains we run into all the time, but they don't think they are doing anything wrong. If they do, they think they are cunning and smart. When people break laws and ethical rules, they justify it in their own terms.”
“A lot of the time with an independent production, you go onto the set, and you rehearse it in front of the crew, and at that point, the cinematographer takes over. You start accommodating the camera instead of the camera accommodating you.”
“I can take scripts directly to actors. Agents don't like to hear that.”
“It's good to make people laugh.”
“Dialogue is what a character's willing to share and reveal to another character, and the 90% they aren't willing to share is what I do for a living.”
“I don't like to sound immodest, but I believe in what I can do. Sometimes it's been frustrating because I haven't gotten to bat; if you're on the bench, and an unimaginative person doesn't see you as right for a certain role, you don't get the chance to hit the home run.”
“Human beings are fascinating with religion and stories about not dying. Or dying and being brought back to life. I think it's just part of our make up.”
“A film is not going to change the world. But if it can do that to individuals on an individual level, I think it's a magnificent movie.”
“I'm not speaking, you know, egocentrically at all, but I do have a very wide range.”
“Harry Dean Stanton, Anjelica Huston - a lot of people have studied with me. It's paying my dues.”
“I think we've all done things we're not particularly fond of. Everybody goes through it and comes out the other end, and goes on with his life as if it didn't happen.”
“Life is a roller coaster. There are ups; there are downs. There are hills; there are valleys, peaks, and so on.”
“All 'Hamlets' are different, and it's the most overwritten play ever written.”
“I'm usually cast by people who are oddly goofy.”
“If I were a writer, the Pulitzer Prize would be important to me. This is my profession, so an Oscar is important.”