Gary Oldman Quotes

It makes a world of difference when you start with an amazing script.

I enjoy writing scripts. I can find out what happens. With an outline, I feel like I'm doing an architectural diagram of something.

When you have great scripts, everything is very easy and fun.

I've never known a situation in my career where a terrible script turned into a movie that was out of this world or was a success.

I sort of love reading the scripts and going, 'Oh wow, what a great idea. I never would have thought of that.'

There was a time when I read a script and I just got excited about the possibilities.

Reading a script is usually as exciting as reading a boilerplate legal document, so when you read one that makes you feel as if you're seeing the movie, you know it's something different.

Sometimes I read a script and it's obvious from early on that it's one where the suspension of disbelief has to develop strongly from page one. Some are more reality-based.

I read a lot of bad scripts and weird television shows. I don't know. There's a lot of work out there I was reading at 14 years old and noticing this lack of thought. And then, reading 'Afterschool,' that's full of thought. It was bursting with ideas.

I can't really write anything without knowing the ending. I don't know how people do that. Even with my superhero stuff, I have to know at least where I want to take the characters and what the ending of my story with them will be. I just can't structure stories or character arcs and stuff without knowing the endpoint.

This basic thing I always do: 'What happened between the character's birth, and page one of the script?' Anything that's not in the story, I'll fill in the blanks.

I worked in script development, many years ago, and read a lot of scripts. Between that and the scripts I've read as an actor, and I'm a writer as well, I think I have a pretty good sense about whether the bones of a story are there and whether the structure is intact.

If you're writing a novel, you can afford to see where the spirit takes you, but in terms of structure and engineering with a screenplay, you have to be quite pragmatic; otherwise, it will run away from you.

I feel like handling a narrative in fiction is a wonderful way to teach stories that then open a pathway to reality and understanding.

Since I've had some success, story and character are always the two elements I think about first in material presented to me. Some of my choices have been more successful than others.

I like scripts. I spend a lot of time writing them.

I get attracted to projects because of the script or the idea and the basic character.

I can't really iterate what I look for in a script. It's a very subjective thing. Like an organic attachment you have with the script and characters.

It's not about Hollywood, it's always about a good script for me.

The script - and a good one - tells you everything that you need to know.

I'm sure great scripts are hard to find, but I'm definitely open, and waiting to see what comes my way.

I don't know, just scripts randomly appeal to me. I'm not looking specifically at any genre.

At the end of the day you do have to write a short novel beforehand, called a script, before you can make a movie.

When you're writing a story, you're creating something of an artificial ending.

[Noah Hawley] just a fantastic writer. It's always about the script, it's always about the book; it always is. If it ain't on the page, it ain't on the stage. That's what attracted me to him first and foremost.