Max von Sydow

“Mr. Bergman was a man of great working discipline. He forced everyone to concentrate when it was important. No disturbing noise during rehearsal. A code of silence.”

“I'm not in retirement. I just don't want to work so much, and I don't get that many offers any more.”

“I've been the type of father who tries desperately to be perfect but doesn't succeed all the time.”

“I remember those days with Bergman with great nostalgia. We were aware that the films were going to be quite important, and the work felt meaningful.”

“You cannot study acting in books. Do it, do it, do it. And watch good actors. See what they are doing and how they are doing it. You have to practically participate, I think, in order to develop yourself.”

“In a silent film, you speak but the audience does not hear you.”

“I'm getting too old to play some parts, but I'm still greedy.”

“The more I had to act like a saint, the more I felt like being a sinner.”

“If people ask me, 'For you, what is your most important film?' I have a feeling that they all sort of want me to answer with one of the Bergman films. But I cannot choose.”

“I could never learn to be totally fluent in any other language.”

“When I was brought up in Sweden, there was a great opportunity for young people to learn how to act in our municipal theaters with their small companies. You would be under contract for eight months and have the summer free to take other opportunities.”

“The idea of working with Steven Spielberg was very attractive. He's such a master. He knows the language of the camera and of filmmaking, which gives him a great freedom.”

“There are many documentary filmmakers who have a tough time because they don't really get what they need to do what they want. There are so many people with good visions that should be encouraged and helped. And they will deliver, I'm sure.”

“France is, for me, the country of happiness.”

“Sometimes you become friends with the characters you portray.”

“I admired Stephen Daldry very much; I think he's a brilliant director, and also, I feel close to him because he has a lot of theater behind him. He's also a man of great imagination and a lovely sense of humor.”

“Ingmar Bergman had a great sense of humor, and he had a very special, characteristic laugh that you always recognized - if he went to watch a theater show, 'Ah! He is here tonight.'”

“Playing Christ, I began to feel shut away from the world. A newspaper became one of my biggest luxuries. I noticed that some of my close friends began treating me with reverence.”

“The Devil, of course, must have been or must be a very charming person.”

“I've never been in a barroom brawl in my life. I just don't do such things.”