Rebecca Hall Quotes

As an actor, you don't really have a say or a voice in what the conversation of the show is going to be. So, as an actor, I'm just trying to make sense of why the character is making these choices, and somehow, in that way, you can sympathize or root, at least not detest, what this person is doing. That's, at least, my job in telling that story.

I'm not interested in playing characters who see the world through my prism; I think the journey of understanding any character is to see how they tick and how they differ from you.

I'm always sorry to finish a book, to let go of characters I love, people I've struggled to understand for years, people who evolve before me.

I think when you play a role, you always have to be a defense attorney for that character.

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.

I don't think you have to like a character, but if you can understand why they do what they do, or the position they're in or why they make certain choices, then you can get behind them.

Nobody's really unsympathetic, I think. People do good and bad things. If a character's totally unsympathetic, they're not real and I'm not interested. Even the real monsters have to have a spark of something you can relate to.

Novels attempt to render human experience; that's really all they are. They are meant to convey empathy for the character.

My school of thought with going into a character is that you have to understand where they come from, and you have to empathize with them.

When a script moves me, I find that I immediately understand a character. Of course not completely, but I do understand.

I am a firm believer that a good plot makes for a fun enough read, but it's not what binds us. If we don't care about the characters, we won't care - not in a lasting way - about what's happening to them.

As a writer, you have to put yourself in service to the character, get behind their eyes by delineating the world where the character develops. You have to listen to the character and see him inside his certain world to know what conclusions he would draw.

It would be hard to play a character you don't like - for me anyway - or can't find something in them to like.

The bottom line always remains the same: What is the basic humanity of the character? How do I make them resonate with the reader?

If you have great characters, then your reader becomes emotionally invested in those people.

I've always felt, even with sketches, that if you don't care about these people, then it doesn't matter.

I do think you need to understand a character's motivation and perspective.

I'm focused on finding characters I connect to.

When I read a script, the important thing is that I can connect in some way with that character and have some idea from what his story is that I can tell that story too, because that's all acting is, is storytelling.

It's always incredible though when you feel like the writer knows the character intimately and can see their life sprawling away outside of the show.

If we get caught up in a story, it's because we've started to care about the characters, and that can only happen if we've moved beneath the surface.

I have a lot of compassion for human beings in life experiences, so I allow myself to feel what these characters are feeling and don't have a problem accepting that.

I like my characters to be ones I think about long after I've finished reading the script.

The first thing I do when I read a part is see if I can identify emotionally with a character. If I make that connection, everything else is just working on knowing their life circumstances and manifesting those through practice and research.

I've always been interested in films where you can identify with the actors. Where you can be in their shoes and therefore be more involved if they're people that you recognize.