Ron Perlman Says Acting Is 'Intimate' Like Sex: 'You're Hoping You're Satisfying'

Dia Dipasupil/FilmMagic

For Ron Perlman, acting is like sex.

Perlman, who was in Saudi Arabia for a screening of his latest movie How I Got There, spoke about his craft during a chat with Variety.

"Acting's a very intimate form of discovery. It's something that happens in stages. First, you read it, to try to understand the world you're entering into, and your place in that world, then you give your interpretation of it," the 72-year-old said. "You're being watched by a filmmaker who has the whole thing in his mind. It's almost like sex."

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Perlman added that he hopes he's satisfying the audience with his performance, explaining: "It's very intimate, and it's very, very personal."

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During the interview with Variety, Perlman also said he thinks going to the movie theater and sitting among 3,000 strangers is a transformative experience.

"My kids, who only know streaming, don't know what they're missing," he said. "The advent of people not leaving their homes to get their culture is taking away one of the great dimensions of the way we get our culture. You should leave your f---ing house."

"That's basically one of the essential strengths of cinema, to experience our commonality," Perlman expressed.

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Perlman plays the role of The Merc in the film, which is written and directed by Zeyad Alhusaini.

The actor married his StartUp costar Allison Dunbar, 49, in June during an Italian getaway.

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The two met when they filmed the show and were first pictured together in May 2019. Perlman was spotted with Dunbar five days after the date he cited for his separation from estranged wife Opal Stone.

Perlman and his ex-wife had been married for 38 years when he filed for divorce in November 2019, almost six months after he had been pictured with Dunbar.