Aaron Johnson Quotes

I always used to say, as a director, that I could make anybody good in a movie if you found the right part. It all comes down to casting.

I've not sat with my agent going: 'Where is the next hopeless girl I can play?' They just come along.

Actors are investigators.

I worked in casting for about five years before I became a director, and that taught me a huge amount because you never actually will see the character walk through the door - and if you do, then you have to be slightly suspicious of that.

Always when I directed the play, I was always trying to cast people not who were necessarily like the characters, but people who I felt had the essential component that the character had, some kind of soul for it.

I think the most important thing for an actor is reading the script and trying to figure out if you can play that character well. The last thing on my mind is if the director made good movies previously. It's not my job to know if that director's last movie was any good - it's my job to know if I can play the role.

You read a script, you try and think through what is the best, most wide-ranging way of telling the story: who stylistically, character-logically, psychologically fits inside the world of what you're trying to do. A lot of it, when you're casting, is trying to get yourself in the head of a director.

The first thing I ask when I'm offered a part is, Who's the director? which is something they never understand in Los Angeles.

I feel lucky to be an actor because you always learn something from each part you play.

People who do not have funny in them are not funny when they read funny lines. Sorry. Just doesn't work that way. Seriously, this is the biggest rule of all. You live and die with your casting decisions. Your actors are the heart and soul of the whole thing. Without brilliant actors, you will not have a brilliant film.

I don't pick my roles by genre; that's kind of silly.

As an actor all we want to do is act and play people.

An actor is supposed to be a sensitive instrument.

I think if an actor is right for a role, casting sees that, and the words that are on the page, depending on how it's written, can really help your character develop.

When you're an actor, actually, you shouldn't come up with too many ideas.

Circumstances made me the theatrical personality I am, which many people believe is also a part of my personal life.

I went into musical theatre, which I'm not really cut out for - I'm not as skilled at it as other people.

I'm an actor, and I'm supposed to reflect real people.

A film is a chain of very difficult decisions, and I think one of them is to choose an accurate cast.

To me, casting is all about finding a character within the actor off the screen as much as on the screen.

A script narration is like watching a film, and I react to it like an audience with my own instinct. After that, I look for what is my character, what will I bring to the table in that role, how challenging will it be.

I would like to see more of the making of just regular television shows. Like the casting process. I think it's so fascinating to watch the actors come in and see how they discuss everybody afterwards. It's a crazy world that has no rhyme or reason.

I was acting since I was a kid, going to drama classes and being involved in every school play and musical that I could get my hands on, so it was something that was a part of me from a very early age.

Probably the best part about being an actor is that you get to be a traveling wanderer.

My vocation is I do what I do. I'm an actor; that's what I do.