Michael Eklund Quotes

Tension is the cornerstone of any good story.

There are other ways to create tension and drama than to have somebody stabbed through the back with a sword.

Well, you need the villain. If you don't have a villain, the good guy can stay home.

Good stories are driven by conflict, tension, and high stakes.

For me a thriller is a very carefully structured story.

Usually bad guys are much more fun to play and much more interesting to watch.

We need the villain sometimes. It makes for an interesting story.

Here's what happens in a play. You get involved in a situation where something is unbalanced. If nothing's unbalanced, there's no reason to have a play. If Hamlet comes home from school, and his dad's not dead and asks him if he's had a good time, it's boring. But if something's unbalanced, it must be returned to order.

The climax is the place where the opposing forces in your story finally clash. This is true whether those opposing forces are two armies or two values inside a character's soul.

The villain of any story is often the most compelling character.

I believe that the writer should tell a story. I believe in plot. I believe in creating characters and suspense.

I'd love to make a thriller.

Everyone loves a good baddie.

I love good stories; you have to have a good plot - characters which intertwine with a good plot.

I think I'm always drawn to a good story.

I always look for good stories and good characters, and if they're placed in a whodunit, then I'm interested.

A really good horror film has a story.

If you have a beautiful story, it has to have conflict. If you don't have conflict, it can't be a good story.

At the heart of drama is conflict.

The characters you refer to as predatory and unsavory are useful. They're the ones who make a novel into a thriller. They're active, and most of the common virtues, the signs of a good person, are not.

We try to be driven by what's a good story, what's truthful, and the drama of what happens next.

In order to have a plot, you have to have a conflict, something bad has to happen.

The way I express ideas is through the plot, Suspense is an important part of expressing an idea.

I'm drawn to a good story, really, as I hope most people are. For me, it's the story that's going to stay with you eventually, not necessarily the genre. I go to watch a film because of the story, not because it was a Western or a comedy.

I am happy to play the bad man.