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Love Quote by Gene Wilder

"I love the art of acting, and I love film, because you always have anther chance if you want it. You know, if we - if this isn't going well, you can't say - well, you could say - let's stop. Let's start over again, Gene, because you were too nervous"

About this Quote

Acting, for Gene Wilder, isn’t just performance; it’s mercy with a call sheet. He frames film as a medium built on do-overs, a place where human messiness can be edited into coherence. That’s not a technical observation so much as a worldview: cinema lets you fail privately, then try again until the feeling lands. In an industry that sells effortless charisma, Wilder points to the hidden labor that produces it.

The line’s charm is how conversationally it admits vulnerability. He stumbles through the thought the way a nervous actor might stumble through a scene: “if we - if this isn’t going well…” That verbal fumbling is the subtext made audible. Wilder is modeling the very anxiety he’s talking about, then offering a gentle solution: stop, reset, take another run. Even the oddly specific “Gene” reads like self-address, as if he’s remembering being young, keyed up, trying to hit a mark and a moment at the same time.

Context matters because Wilder’s screen persona often balanced precision with spontaneity: controlled comic timing that still felt like it could crack open into real emotion. Film, for him, is a craft where nervousness isn’t a moral failing; it’s just another take. The quote quietly pushes back against the macho myth of the one-shot genius. Wilder’s intent is almost pedagogical: the magic isn’t that great actors never miss. It’s that they’re allowed - and skilled enough - to return to the scene until it tells the truth.

Quote Details

TopicMovie
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Wilder, Gene. (2026, January 17). I love the art of acting, and I love film, because you always have anther chance if you want it. You know, if we - if this isn't going well, you can't say - well, you could say - let's stop. Let's start over again, Gene, because you were too nervous. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-love-the-art-of-acting-and-i-love-film-because-67694/

Chicago Style
Wilder, Gene. "I love the art of acting, and I love film, because you always have anther chance if you want it. You know, if we - if this isn't going well, you can't say - well, you could say - let's stop. Let's start over again, Gene, because you were too nervous." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-love-the-art-of-acting-and-i-love-film-because-67694/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I love the art of acting, and I love film, because you always have anther chance if you want it. You know, if we - if this isn't going well, you can't say - well, you could say - let's stop. Let's start over again, Gene, because you were too nervous." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-love-the-art-of-acting-and-i-love-film-because-67694/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.

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Gene Wilder (born June 11, 1933) is a Actor from USA.

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