"Once you get into your stride, the camera becomes like another person in the room. It's like being in a very small theatre where there is no getting away with anything because the audience is centimetres away from you"
About this Quote
Burrows turns the camera from a piece of gear into a presence you have to negotiate with, and that personification is doing a lot of work. She’s describing a particular kind of modern intimacy: not the warm kind, but the exposed kind, where your smallest adjustment reads like a confession. “Once you get into your stride” implies that acting on camera is less mystical inspiration than bodily calibration. You learn the rhythm, then the lens stops feeling like surveillance and starts feeling like a partner - a demanding one.
The “very small theatre” metaphor is sly because it reverses what people assume about film acting. Stage is supposed to be the high-wire act; film is supposed to be forgiving, stitched together in the edit. Burrows argues the opposite: the camera doesn’t let you hide behind projection or distance. It rewards truth-telling but also punishes falseness, and “no getting away with anything” carries a moral edge. In close-up, technique looks like lying.
The line also hints at the politics of being looked at, especially for an actress whose career has unfolded under the tabloid/celebrity gaze. “Centimetres away” isn’t just about focal length; it’s about power. The audience isn’t safely in the dark. It’s right there, practically touching you, and you’re asked to be natural on command. The intent feels like a demystification of screen acting - and a quiet warning that the camera’s intimacy can be both liberating and predatory, depending on who’s behind it.
The “very small theatre” metaphor is sly because it reverses what people assume about film acting. Stage is supposed to be the high-wire act; film is supposed to be forgiving, stitched together in the edit. Burrows argues the opposite: the camera doesn’t let you hide behind projection or distance. It rewards truth-telling but also punishes falseness, and “no getting away with anything” carries a moral edge. In close-up, technique looks like lying.
The line also hints at the politics of being looked at, especially for an actress whose career has unfolded under the tabloid/celebrity gaze. “Centimetres away” isn’t just about focal length; it’s about power. The audience isn’t safely in the dark. It’s right there, practically touching you, and you’re asked to be natural on command. The intent feels like a demystification of screen acting - and a quiet warning that the camera’s intimacy can be both liberating and predatory, depending on who’s behind it.
Quote Details
| Topic | Movie |
|---|
More Quotes by Saffron
Add to List
