Character Quotes - Page 270

Batman is not a very interesting character. For any actor. There is simply not much to play. I think Michael Keaton did it the best, and I wish good luck to Ben Affleck. But, you know who would have made a great Batman? Alec Baldwin in the '80s.

Before I accept a job, I always talk to folks about it. Why does he kill these 22 people? If they say, What difference does it make? I know we have nothing more to talk about. A character has to be three-dimensional.

Friendship requires a steady, constant, and unchangeable character, a person that is uniform in his intimacy.

The highest of characters is his who is as ready to pardon the moral errors of mankind as if he were every day guilty of them himself; and as cautious of committing a fault as if he never forgave one.

Whatever disgrace we may have deserved, it is almost always in our power to re-establish our character.

I can understand in some sense, having played the character, how unimaginably frustrating it is for people to tell you that you can't love who you love, because you ain't going to change it, and so they have to get out of your way

The challenges for the writer included deciding which secrets were most important, how many secrets revealed were too many, which characters should know which information when, and how the revelations would impact the rest of the family. All of those questions eventually lead back to one: What's at the heart of this book? Where does it want to focus, or toward what does it want to lead us?

When you introduce a character and show him for the first time, don't show him fully lit. Don't show him one hundred percent to the audience. Show maybe fifty percent or sixty percent so the audience can fill in the dark spots.

..Since depression is a genetic biological illness, like diabetes, or low thyroid, it wasn't lack of character, laziness, or something I could "snap out of"-it would be like trying to snap out of a toothache.

George has only got to ring me. His imagination is so wonderful, I'd do any character he might create.

I think that Brighton, for a crime writer, is almost like a character.

Elijah can register such subtle emotion on his face that I loved doing close-ups on him. He really brings a superb emotional level to Frodo's scenes and although he is a very instinctive actor, we discussed the character thoroughly.

As a filmmaker, you are going to manipulate the character as you need to make the scenes work.

The writer can only explore the inner space of his characters by perceptively navigating his own.

The goal is to be both disciplined and loose, so that the writing does not turn into a task or a chore. To leave myself behind, along with the mechanics, and disappear into the lives of my characters.

The drive of the story is sort of hinted at the beginning, is Joy and Sadness and those two characters. Especially Joy starting to understand that there's more to life than being happy. And so that's based on real life observations and things that we've learned as adults.

My mother was pretty nuts, but she was also a character.

Especially when you are advertising a product, I talk to the photographer and we create a character - it always gives you more freedom because it makes it less about yourself.

I feel like I've been very lucky with the directors. The characters I've been offered, especially lately, have given me the opportunity to play all of these different women. I always wanted that, and it's something that you cannot do by yourself. If you want to play a diversity of characters, somebody else has to have the imagination to give you a role completely out of the box. We depend on somebody else's trust, and these directors are giving me their trust, and I am grateful for that.

the older I am, the more I refuse to treat my work as therapy and the more I think it's less honest to do that, less about acting. When I was younger, I sometimes used personal things in creating characters, to the point where I thought maybe it was a little bit dangerous - at least for me. But I don't feel that somebody can only be good in a character if they are really becoming that person or really suffering.

When I read a script, I try not to judge the characters. I try to have an open mind and really see what it makes me feel.

I work sometimes from outlines, which are immediately abandoned. Sometimes, when I'm trying to find the characters, I'll sketch things out a bit. Sometimes, outlines help me aim a little bit, but I tend to find it's usually much more interesting, especially with the first draft, to spew it onto the page. I used to get very nervous that, if I write this first rough draft and I die that night, whoever finds it might think that I thought it was good. For me, it's much more important to get some general shape onto the page and later take all the time I need to refine it, fix it, and rewrite it.

The car is a character in the piece - I've never liked the car, I submitted to it's objectionable popularity.

Usually the characters are where I start. Then I continually ask myself, 'What's the worst thing that could happen to this character?'

I think carrying your gut, or your instincts, through all the learning, is one of the most important things. You learn to prepare for a part in different ways, you learn to experiment, what you do for the character - you try working in different ways.