"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"
About this Quote
The insistence on doing each take “a little differently” is less about improvisation than about preserving risk. Screen acting, especially in the film-and-TV grind, can become a museum of your own best choices: you find the “right” version in take two, then spend take three through ten embalming it. Urban’s word choice makes the subtext clear: “recreating something” is acting as photocopy, not presence. Spontaneity here isn’t chaos; it’s aliveness, the sense that the character is arriving in real time instead of reciting a previously approved performance.
There’s also a quiet nod to collaboration. Directors and editors need options; variation is generosity. Giving slightly different shades lets the scene evolve in the cut, and it keeps scene partners listening instead of anticipating. Urban frames inspiration as something you can lose, but his method treats it as something you can engineer: not by chasing “bigger” emotions, but by refusing to let the work calcify into a repeatable product.
Quote Details
| Topic | Movie |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Urban, Karl. (2026, January 15). 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. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/that-is-a-big-danger-losing-your-inspiration-when-126619/
Chicago Style
Urban, Karl. "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." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/that-is-a-big-danger-losing-your-inspiration-when-126619/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"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." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/that-is-a-big-danger-losing-your-inspiration-when-126619/. Accessed 11 Feb. 2026.

