Project Assessment Quotes

If I look at it and feel there is someone who can do it better, I won't do it. Whether it's 'Party Down' or 'Piranha 3-D,' I'm going to bring something to it to make it special.

You can tell if you're going to be into a script within the first five or ten pages - if I'm not completely engaged by page 20, I just have to give up on it.

I am open to any good script and the character I can do justice to.

When I listen to scripts, I never ask who my co-star is - instead, I ask about the characters and the producers of the particular venture.

What I learned is that I should probably read a screenplay every once in a while before I said 'yes'. You could make bad film out of a good script, but you're never going to make a good film out of a bad script.

I've got a lot of examples about moments where I thought something would work on film and it didn't work, but I never came to that decision with the film half shot, where I was stuck on a runaway train and couldn't jump off. On those occasions where I have admitted defeat, that this is not going to work, I haven't embarked on that project and made that movie.

I think it's a real danger, as an actor, when you try to make some statement through your career about what the business should be doing or ultimately what your image should be or how you want to be perceived. I look at every project that comes along and say, "Is this something I can sink my teeth into and can do a good job on?" That's really how I choose roles.

It so depends on each script, because you can say... I always thought I wouldn't have wanted to do something that was kind of like as big and commercial as 'The Dark is Rising,' but I really liked the script. I thought it was really clever.

I have worked with big actors, but honestly, I don't judge the viability of a project on the basis of the star value attached to it.

Really dig into projects people have worked on and call references; that is another thing that first time founders like to skip.

When you get scripts and you really enjoy reading them, you know it's a good project.

In choosing any role, I ask the same questions: what kind of part is it? is the role challenging? does the director have a vision? is the story moving? etc.

When I hear that a project takes place out of town, the material better be terrific, and it has to come at the right time. My kids are getting older, so it's getting easier, but being a mother - it's a difficult thing to juggle.

I find it very difficult to compare any two projects because they're all such different beasts.

The first thing I look at with a project isn't who's directing, whether it's a big film; it's the character and whether I want to tell her story.

A lot of things I have turned down ended up being a big embarrassment. Like that script, 'The Beaver.' I thought that was one of the worst scripts I had ever read. But everyone said, 'Ooh it's on the Black List.' Yeah, well, good for it. They're a bunch of idiots. I saw the final film, and there were no surprises.

I was open to anything. That doesn't mean I would do anything, it just means I was open to anything. I've met for dramas, single camera comedy, multi-camera comedy. I take each script as an individual project.

What's overwhelmingly clear is 'Havana' didn't work for people, but why it didn't work I don't feel I can put my finger on in a way I can learn from.

I can easily say "no" to a project if the script isn't great, but when the script is good, then I start asking the other questions. Who's going to direct it? Who's the creator? Who are the actors? When are we shooting? Where is it shooting? All that kind of stuff.

But most scripts are terrible. Most projects are bad, that's just kind of the way it is. And I'm not really attracted to those.

It serves anyone, when they're going into some project, to try to distance themselves from the material so you can really have an objective viewpoint.

We look at each one [project] and consider the context - what it is and what it can be - beyond the strictly functional concerns.

You read a script, and you know if you need to do it.

Hopefully, as I get older in the business, I make my choices more accurately, and I perhaps know from either the script or the first meeting that it isn't going to work.

After two weeks of working on a project, you know whether it will work or not.