Barbara Stanwyck Quotes

There's no particular role that comes to mind that I'd like to take on, but for me, it's about playing interesting characters and not just two-dimensional ones.

A while ago, I did a television adaptation of 'Bleak House,' and the character I played, as far as I was concerned, had no redeeming features whatsoever. I wasn't about to try to find any; I didn't need to.

With 'Girls,' Marnie was a slow burn; she shifted over time. With 'Get Out,' I was suddenly faced with the pressure that, like, I need an audience to know Rose deeply within 15 minutes, within a couple scenes. And that's not something I've ever done before.

For me, it's first about the characters. I look for a character who is intriguing and challenging and different from what I've done before.

Every character I approach, from 'Forrest Gump' all the way up to 'The Spoils Before Dying,' has a different set of requirements and always fascinates me.

It's nice to create a character, not just within two scenes, but within the journey of a whole movie. It's fun to do that.

I never really thought about what characters I play. I always just wanted different characters.

It is definitely a challenge to play Nathan, but the more different he is from myself, the more interesting the character becomes for me.

I'd never thought much about a series, because I liked the idea of picking a script I liked with a character I thought I could sustain for an hour. In a series, you live with one character day in and day out - and you only hope it will be one that will not drive you crazy.

I'm not looking to do 'Half Nelson' next, but to play anything that's a little more complex is really fun.

When I was on 'One Life to Live,' I always wanted to delve into my character, Layla, to find out why she was the black sheep of the family. I so wanted to have some edge. I have no idea why there was a reluctance to do that or why we so rarely see it.

Basically, I only play one character; I just play him at different volumes.

The interesting thing about my character Sylar is that my strengths as an actor seemed to go completely against the shape of a character in the shadow.

Even when I'm reading a script where I'm supposed to be looking at the lead role, I'll find myself gravitating toward some small weirdo in a few scenes instead. I'm very instinctive like that and I love the challenge of not having a lot of time to create someone who feels real.

When I look at a character, whether he's good or bad, one scene or 10 scenes, I just have to find my way in.

To me, the struggle is to try to make a less-well-written or less-well-rounded character and find who they are. If you really get it, and it's all on the page, then it's really just gonna pop out at you.

We play many emotions in our careers, emotions that in real life we would perform just once. For example, my character has died in about 10 films, so you have to keep searching for different ways to do it!

I think Ada in 'The Piano' is the most interior character I've ever had the chance to play, either on the stage or in anything I've done for film or TV.

Playing dysfunctional characters or crazy characters is only fun if they're well written. So I have been lucky enough to be asked to play crazy people who are very well written.

These people I play are not usually wish-fulfillment characters.

Vijay Sethupathi looks a film as a film. He never looks at what kind image he is going to get out of the character.

I have no qualms about doing a character who may be below the lead in the pecking order, whether it's a hero or a villain or a comedian.

Every character is challenging because, at the end of the day, you have to make something out of it.

My character should not be ordinary, cliched, and if I feel that it's difficult to do this character, I take up that challenge to get into his character.

I don't really get a buzz from playing characters that are similar to me 'cause that's not acting to me.