Character Complexity Quotes

I was curious. Here was a character where I just didn't know how they were going to write him into 13 episodes without it being one note. My fear was that I didn't want to join something where I was just going to be this prop and this mustache twirling character.

I suppose that the sympathetic/unsympathetic debate about characters sometimes feels to me like a misstatement of purpose. I always think of truly complex characters are falling between the cracks in that debate.

You can't judge a character, and you're never going to always play characters that are morally sound or know right from wrong.

I would love to play a negative guy, play the villain. It is always interesting to have shades to your character.

Having been raised by actors who love moral ambiguity and flawed protagonists, I feel like it's sort of in the blood to want to take it on.

My dad was always interested in characters he didn't understand - he was such a great bad guy in movies. And that is really the thing that calls me to the material often: something I struggle to understand in human behaviour.

I don't know why, but I respond well to tortured characters.

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.

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.

I have always played the cheerful girl next door, especially on the Internet, and this film is a break from that. My character is more moody and bratty in 'Karwaan.'

The characters don't all have to be likable, and they don't all have to be hateable. As long as it's interesting and you connect to them and they resonate with you and you want to find out what happens and it feels authentic, then we have something.

I could watch 'There Will Be Blood' all day long, and Daniel Plainview is a terrible person - but he's still compelling to watch. That's what makes me want to engage and see what happens next.

I do know that I like to play characters that are sometimes a little on the outside - that's because it feels kind of romantic and sexier to me. I really think they are the people that we learn lessons from.

There is more meat and mileage in complex characters, like 'Running with Scissors.'

I am interested in complex characters who are difficult and have numerous sides. But I would love to do a comedy role - something maybe 'Monty Python'-esque.

I don't categorize characters into one syllable. These are fully-rounded characters that I don't judge; I just play them.

I really enjoy those characters like 'Profit.' With those elements that are shady and dark, you're not responsible for being a likable character. Like some of Jack Nicholson's characters, you remember them for so long.

When I need to stretch my legs, I can walk across the street to the museum and relax among the illustrations of Abraham Lincoln's life, too. In a way, it reflects the halves of Lincoln's own character - one all jokes and buffoonery, the other all high-minded seriousness. If he could absorb both into his personality, I think I can, too.

I like characters who have blind spots and are full of themselves, but there also needs to be vulnerability.

I like movies that make you semi fall in love with the villain so you have sympathy for him.

There is nothing like being able to develop a three-dimensional character over a long period of time. Sometimes you aren't able to fully portray a character because you only have a couple of scenes to do it in, and you don't get the full life and background of that character.

I'm attracted to playing people who aren't necessarily straightforward.

Everyone says villains are thankless parts, but those are really the best roles.

People are much more complicated in real life, but my characters are as subtle and nuanced as I can make them. But if you say my characters are too black and white, you've missed the point. Villains are meant to be black-hearted in popular novels. If you say I have a grey-hearted villain, then I've failed.

The thing I respond to the most is just great writing, interesting characters. I like to think that there is something fun about playing a character that has a lot of authority in her own life.