Max Irons Quotations

I mean, it's fine when you're a kid and someone runs into the playground and goes, 'I've got this great game of pretend,' and you play... As an actor, getting to play, getting to use your imagination and be childish - it is weird but it's wonderful.

I've always wanted to be a fighter pilot. But I don't want to kill people. I'd hate to.

Kindness and a generous spirit go a long way. And a sense of humor. It's like medicine - very healing.

I've got my dad's height and smoking habit. But I think I've got my mum's looks and sensibilities.

I like to think that at the end of a show, you can just take your costume off and go to the pub.

American actors are all muscular, tanned, white teeth and they have this indestructible confidence. We British are all... Dare I say it? Pessimistic.

I think New York is more stylish than London.

With acting, I've got a character to inhabit. You've got to think about your intentions and your directions. In modeling, even though there's an act to it, a good model is a good model. For me it's uncomfortable territory. You start to feel quite insecure about yourself. There's nothing between you and the camera, and it's just you.

I like reading, free diving and hiking. But my favorite thing to do is travel anywhere in Greece. I love everything about that place.

Acting advice is a bit like your parents teaching you how to drive a car. You know they're right, but you still kind of want them to shut up a bit.

'The Host' is very much in the same vein as 'Twilight', and there's clearly a huge fan base out there. But I can't imagine myself being as huge as Robert Pattinson. I'm not sure I could handle that level of fame.

My name has opened doors and slammed doors shut.

As a child I'd get given parts as a tree.

I can see why there's a misconception that it's easier when your parents are actors, but it doesn't work out at all. In fact, it's the reverse.

I don't look on the Internet; it's a world of pain.

I haven't read the 'Twilight' books. But it's everywhere so I feel like I know it. Edward, Bella, Jacob, etc. but... I haven't read them.

I never wear sneakers. I don't feel comfortable in them.

If you try to bring 'teen drama,' you end up doing nothing but pouting.

You know, Taylor Lautner, with a body like that, he should be taking his shirt off. For me, it's not so essential.

Coats are my favorite thing, and it's always cold in England. I'm comfortable spending a bit of money if you know you're going to be wearing it 10 years later.

It's a mistake to dwell too much on the consequences of a piece of work that you're making.

The actors I respect are the ones who see it as a career and manage to live reasonably normal lives, like Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

I always feel kind of awkward when I look at pictures of myself. Watching videos of myself is really uncomfortable.

Once you become the story off-screen, you are less likely to be the onscreen one.

I think I was about 16 when I first figured I wanted to be an actor. I wanted to be a fighter pilot before that, but then I thought I don't want to kill people so that ruled that out.

I want to have a career that lasts 60 years, not six.

I don't think I've got enough energy to be competitive! Most of my energy is just devoted to me being nervous and trying to deal with the situation.

For me, comfort is paramount.

People often find it surprising that actors find photo shoots difficult, because you're very concerned about what's going on externally in those things when you have to be concerned with what's going on internally as an actor.

For an actor who has the ability to take a chance, which may make him look like a fool, but may end in the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow so to speak. So you have to take chances to be a bit dangerous and a bit silly every now and then and playful.

The Host' is very much in the same vein as 'Twilight', and there's clearly a huge fan base out there. But I can't imagine myself being as huge as Robert Pattinson. I'm not sure I could handle that level of fame.

Well, I couldn't spell my name until I was eight - my second name. I was so dyslexic. Max I could do. Irons, nope.

The only person I can amaze is me.

Also I don't want to refer to myself as Maximilian. You'd have to win an Oscar or become mind-numbingly wealthy or hit 50. It's like smoking a cigar, you know what I mean? You can't be a young guy and do it.

Less so here, I’ve noticed. I can see why there’s a misconception that it’s easier when your parents are actors, but it doesn’t work out at all. In fact, it’s the reverse.

I want to keep working. I want to step away from young adult fiction. I want to do theater periodically - Farragut North reminded me how great it is. I started out in theater. I trained in theater and then I kind of fell into film and TV. I want to work with interesting artists, talented actors, talented directors, and talented scripts. Not necessarily leading roles.

If you look at the careers of Philip Seymour Hoffmann, Paul Giamatti, Meryl Streep, none of them shot up in terms of fame or fortune or recognition, they laid a platform of good, solid work and became better and better.

I know I haven't done it. I've done a couple of films, which were intended to go straight up. Thankfully they didn't. So now, I think that's what I need to do. I just need to grow as an actor.

There was recently a story out that I turned down a role in a major franchise. That's not true. I refused to audition for it. I didn't get the part. I didn't even go in because I thought that the part was just a repackaged version of the parts I played before in these young adult films - sort of moody, masculine, but sensitive and all this kind of thing. It was just a repackaged, rather dull thing.

Auditioning is a funny one. It's all about energy. If you walk into a room and the room feels off or the people feel off, that can set you off. If the room is very small. I know which casting directors I should go to, because the place is conducive to doing a good job and the people are conducive and I know the other ones aren't, in which case I send in a tape.

I guess if everything went tits up, having no work whatsoever, obviously you have to do something else. At the moment I don't see myself quitting, but I'm open minded about it.

I always wanted to be a teacher. A bit of me still wants to be a teacher.

In fact, when I met Kit Harington first, he was pretty much feeling how I'm feeling today - at a photo shoot and you've had no sleep. He was just a really nice, English, down-to-earth guy. No pretense, nothing.

Bullingdon would never go co-ed. I'm not going to give anything away, but there are a couple of girls involved in our story and it doesn't end well for anyone.

They're a nasty bunch of people. The Riot Club's sole purpose is to celebrate wealth, elitism, hedonism, and excess - just random acts of destruction and chauvinism, which is interesting because our Prime Minister, our Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Mayor of London were are a part of this club.

As an actor, variety is the spice of life. I love theatre... it's what I enjoy the most. But a bit of TV, a bit of film, a bit of stage - what more could you ask for?

I think it's quite good to have an amount of unavailability.

People say 'follow in the footsteps' but I always find that a strange expression because what you want to do is forge your own path, so to speak.

Towards the end, one of them was older than I was in real life.

I think there was a bit of brotherly love, but I think everything has a motive when you're king. It's all about maintaining that power - securing that power - and I think Edward was very skillful at doing that. I think he was a great king. Opinions are split, if you look at what he's done and written about him.

I think he [King Edward] was a modernizer who was a new thinker. The things he intended to do - unify the country, expand it all from coast to coast - were very modern and radical in those days. Also, the fact that he married who he did and that he managed to deal with the consequences and ramifications of that marriage and stay on the throne until the day he died, that shows skill.

I was supposed to go up for something recently that was a six-year commitment, and I didn't want to do it. It was a terrible part as well. I don't want to be doing six years of something. I'd go crazy.

When I was about 16, I did a Neil LaBute play called A Gaggle of Saints from a collection of plays called Bash - very violent story about a young Mormon who goes to Central Park with his friend and beats up a gay guy. But it was the first thing I had ever done, and I thought, "God, this is fun! This is far more fun than anything else I've been doing at school. I want to stick with it."

Nepotism is despised in England, which is a very good thing. I think something to do with the class system. People really look down on nepotism. So yeah, it never really works in your favor - even in this industry.

There are certain things that cut right to the bone, but as an actor you have to because you get turned down for things all the time. I have a friend who was told he didn't get a job because he was too hairy. I've never heard anything that bad, but you have to get used to that sort of thing.