I am in awe, in admiration of the man who Gaius Julius Caesar was. I don't actually do him as the man himself. He is maybe a distant relative. It's hard to approach the real man because he is such an awesome icon.
– Karl Urban
I believe in starting from scratch with each character. It starts with my favourite part of the whole process, reading the script. You're playing Sherlock Holmes to a certain extent. You say, What can I deduce about this character from what's written on this page?
– Karl Urban
I decided to have a regular childhood and not pursue [acting] until I left school, although I wrote plays, directed plays, and got involved in theatre at school. When I left school I decided that's that I was going to pursue and gave it a crack.
– Karl Urban
I did a little theatre work after that and the following year I got another part in a television series. Then it was almost to the end of the year before I got more work. That was coming to terms with the reality of the vocation I had chosen.
– Karl Urban
I don't see a benefit in accepting every single little morsel of work that comes along because I think in essence what you're doing is you're raping yourself really.
– Karl Urban
I'll need every ounce that I have to drive it through. Film and TV require that energy. Sometimes fight scenes can be pretty intense. When I was shooting Heaven it was truly guerrilla film-making.
– Karl Urban
I've turned down a lot of stuff. I've read several scripts and said That's not me, I'm not interested in doing that. It's got to be something that inspires me and captures my imagination. I want to be able to say There's a challenge.
– Karl Urban
Invest in yourself. It's like being a boxer, you've got to be in training so that when the bell rings, you get your direction you come out of the corner and you're *ready*. Do not let the audition be the first thing you've done in six months.
– Karl Urban
It was always something I knew I was capable of and from an early age my mother was involved in the film industry. She used to work at a production company. So I was exposed to a renaissance period of films in New Zealand back in the early 80's.
– Karl Urban
It's such a small industry here you inevitably end up working with the same people over and over again. There are only so many actors to go around, which is good for us.
– Karl Urban
It's wonderful that people who watch and follow the shows take time to come see us, and I really do appreciate it. I'm quite blown away.
– Karl Urban
Now I'm this far up the ladder and I've got so much farther to go with what I want to achieve with it.
– Karl Urban
That is a big danger, losing your inspiration. When I work in film and television I try to do each take a little differently. I never want to do the same thing twice, because then you're not being spontaneous, you're just recreating something.
– Karl Urban
That's always an interesting concept when you try to make your dream into a reality and you come up against the facts of exactly what it is you're attempting to do.
– Karl Urban
There's only so much artistic output that I can actually expel at any one given time.
– Karl Urban
There's only so much you can do until you get on set and see the aesthetics of what you're dealing with. Then you see what the other players are giving to you. It's all about the transfer of energy between different actors.
– Karl Urban
When I work, I try to eat as much vegetarian as possible. When I do Cupid, I eat vegetarian because I need the energy. I've got those wings on my back.