Quotes About Character

I was never any good in the school theatrical productions. I always got a role like the March Hare.

It's my job to be the Pierrot, the clown, in the theatrical sense.

A solid theatrical education can only improve a screen performance. It gives you a fuller capacity to read a script and understand a character, for one thing. It's important to alternate between the two activities.

What appealed to me about 'The Loved Ones' script was that it had this really theatrical element to it. I thought that the scope of this character is so broad, and there is so much fun to be had playing a crazy teenage loner. It was a great way to explore the delusions a mind can create.

When men speak ill of thee, live so as nobody may believe them.

The movies that work are the ones in which somebody very smart figured out how to take all the thematic material, all the character material, all the filigree, all the beautiful writing, and put it into a story.

I don't choose something unless I think I have a personal understanding and something I can offer. It's not always thematic. I wanted to do 'The Grinch' because I wanted to direct Jim Carrey creating that kind of comic fantasy character live. I just thought that would be a mind-blowing experience, and it creatively was.

The main question in drama, the way I was taught, is always, 'What does the protagonist want?' That's what drama is. It comes down to that. It's not about theme, it's not about ideas, it's not about setting, but what the protagonist wants.

I am good when there is something central about the character. There is always a human theme I attach myself to. I am really looking for something that is moving or enlightening or something with depth as an actor. I look for these kinds of roles.

For me, it's nice to have a character who can never find love and have that be the running theme, but I think when you open the door to a story line about relationships, you open the door to another realm of comedy.

I'm always interested in the ways in which a character can inhabit either a theme or a premise personally, so that those scenes that are about his character or his relationship with other characters feel in context and don't seem to be apart from or oddly vestigial to the actual drama.

An actor doesn't change thought, theme, or mood unless the character does, and the character only does it within the words of the play.

When I work on a movie, I look at the script or watch the film, and I talk to my director or producers and make a plan: this is our main character; we need a theme for this plot. We need a love theme.

I kind of approach action/non-action very much similarly. It has to be character-based and it has to kind of come off the theme and the overall arc.

Music does help me a lot with my character, with the fact that I have to have a really good theme song, something that I can get into while I'm walking down the ramp. It puts me into that mindset that I'm going into a mosh pit.

After I quit being a lawyer in '95, I was having a lot of trouble writing. Then I read somewhere that Willa Cather read a chapter of the Bible every day before she started work. I thought, 'Okay, I'll try it.' Before each writing session, I started to read the Bible like a writer, thinking about language, character, and themes.

Hard times arouse an instinctive desire for authenticity. —Coco Chanel

Old Hopi saying—When you lose your temper, you lose a friend. When you lie, you lose yourself.

What lies behind us and what lies before us are but tiny matters compared to what lies within us. —Ralph Waldo Emerson

There's one thing—when they say they're sorry and ask to be forgiven, that's a big step. I may be a fool, but that's a step worth acknowledging. I put on my body armor, remind myself of the truth of their character, stay cautious and alert, and give them a chance. An apology and an effort are both rare and valuable.

I can't do violence in front of her. She might think I'm like him. I'm not like him.

You know, you try to hide the fact that you're nice," she said. "I think it's natural for you to be kind." "Nowww," he warned. "You'll ruin my reputation." "You haven't even established one yet," she said. "No one knows quite what to make of you.

Walt looked at her beautiful, shining face. Her hazel eyes glowed, her cheeks were flush with love. But looking at Shelby wasn't the startling part. One look at Luke told the rest of the story. Luke had always had that bad-boy edge, an aura of danger and a short fuse. No more. All the rough edges had been ground down and his expression was docile as a puppy. Walt just laughed as he pulled Shelby into his arms.

A man must first govern himself ere he be fit to govern a family. —SIR WALTER RALEIGH