As an actor, the toughest thing is being subject to circumstance. Meaning: What scripts are out there that are available?
And I find it very easy to memorize the scripts, which are so close to conversations my husband and I have.
The script is a blueprint for the film – there are very few bad scripts that make good movies. If you really like the character and understand the utility it serves within the movie, that’s a part of my process.
You have to read scripts and audition and develop relationships. It takes a long time to develop a body of work but over the last 25 years I guess I’ve done that many movies. In hindsight it may seem effortless, but there’s a lot of work that goes into it.
I remember moving out to L.A. straight after college and just starting to try to write scripts and trying to get stuff off the ground.
I feel the best scripts are those that are originally written to be films: that is film in its purest sense.
‘Skins’ is actually a part of who I am as a person, so I was really focused on making sure the scripts and the story lines were right.
A lot of times you have to dip into the independent world to find the really great projects and the really great scripts. They’re out there – you just have to search hard.
I’ve been doing this for seven and a half years. I’ve been just bustin’ it, trying to break in as an artist in this business. For me, it’s still just about the work. I get the scripts and I’m all about that. I don’t really even have an idea what that’s going to be like.
You need good scripts to approach stars.
I use the dictionary all the time when I’m reading or working on scripts.
I think Tamil films will soon go the Hollywood way. There will be separate full-length humour-driven scripts, just like how thrillers and musicals are becoming successful genres.
Oftentimes, you read these pilot scripts that come through for American work, and they don’t sing to you. I’ve got to be honest, not many of them ignite the flame or give you that burning feeling of, ‘Oh, God, I really want to be a part of this.’
I don’t care for horror and fantasy films. I never go to see them in the theater. I know I’ve played in many of them, but I didn’t do them because of their genre – I did them just because I loved their scripts.
Like any other actor, I want to work with good directors, and I always look for good scripts. I’ve had to say no to some people; I suspect that’s the reason I’m called arrogant.
I get bored with unintelligent scripts. When I read the first page and I can tell what is going to happen, I know I don’t want to make the film. It’s two months work and I would get deeply bored. I would even prefer to do something that didn’t work at the box-office, so long as it kept my interest alive.
I like scripts. I spend a lot of time writing them.
With all the lines I have to learn for TV scripts, I don’t think I have any problems with forgetfulness – that’s brain exercise enough for me.
I have been reading scripts, going to auditions and looking for the right opportunities.
If the scripts are not good, I’ll tell somebody, ‘This isn’t good.’
I always try to pick up interesting scripts, and thankfully, I have been lucky to get scripts like ‘Pyaar Ka Punchnama,’ ‘Akash Vaani’, and ‘Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety.’
Pilot season’s such a strange time. You get such a concentrated amount of scripts. A lot of them become white noise after a while. When something really pops, it becomes apparent very quickly. I’m quite instinctive about that. I know, normally by about 10 pages in, whether I want to do something or not.
I’ve always scribbled, and I still do it. I’ve written numerous scripts for films for which I think I’d be perfect as the complex, intelligent and, yes, modern heroine. Embarrassingly bad, all of them. I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that I’m not a writer.
I had gone to the bookstore, and while I hadn’t bought any books on how to write a screenplay, I’d bought a couple of scripts so I could see how the formatting works. I just needed to know how a Hollywood screenplay looked on the page, which was something I was totally unfamiliar with.
On TV, you never know where it’s going. They may even lie to you about where it’s going. You never really know because the scripts come in every couple of weeks or so.
John Sullivan’s scripts were always very funny, and cast and crew got on well.
I get sent a lot of scripts where you’re just the mom.
I am a known actor who wants to challenge himself in difficult roles. I am not a star but an actor, so I am always looking for strong scripts and strong roles.
I’ll read, like, ten scripts, and then sometimes if I’m lucky, there will be two or three scripts that I like, and sometimes they’ll all be dramas, or they’ll all be comedies, or there will be two dramas and a comedy, and then I’ll go for whatever. If I have to audition, I’ll audition. If it’s an offer, great.
My key interest in choosing scripts is character-driven stories, because there are so many stories that sacrifice character for plot.
I often have scripts sent to me with allegedly Scottish characters where I end up telling them, ‘You’re going to have to rethink this whole thing!’
Underground, raw movies that come out of nowhere and change everything – they aren’t slick-looking. But I have nothing against slick-looking as long as the scripts are funny.
I’ve been fortunate. I don’t pick scripts. Scripts pick me.
The Indian film industry does not believe in investing financial resources in scripts.
When I was a kid, I wrote to the BBC, and the producers sent me a huge package through the post with ‘Doctor Who’ scripts. I’d never even seen a script and couldn’t believe that they actually wrote this stuff down. It sort of opened a door.
I’m just thinking I’m just like a normal actor who gets scripts, and I read them, and… if I enjoy reading them, then that’s what’s exciting, then I get excited about the audition or the project itself.
I’m not staying away from any genre. I’m trying to get scripts that I like.
I didn’t have to leave my neighborhood to be surrounded by the things that ‘Super Fly’ is about. It was easier than most scripts because it was about an environment that I knew.
The scripts that I take should be solid in terms of content; only then will my inability as an actor not show up on the screen.
Television theatre, as is implied in its name, should rely on adaptations of scripts written for the theatre.
I’m not really a director for hire. You read these scripts and go, ‘This is a really great script, but Paul Greengrass would make this so much better than me.’ I usually say, ‘I know who would be good for this. It’s not me.’
I’m not very good when I’m given scripts.
Scripts can be slick and structured, but do they always contain the truth?
My parameter of judging a script has not changed over the years. I still go for a script where the story interests me. Yes, there are times where I might go wrong; say, out of five scripts, I might go wrong on one.
At the end of the day, you have to sit with the scripts and decide where your heart is.
I don’t choose my directors, but I choose my scripts wisely.
If I have a free day, sometimes I’m just reading scripts all day. They pile up.
At some point, I would like to start creating my own things. If people don’t write the scripts I like, then I will do my own.
Changes are required as far as scripts are concerned. People need to open up and experiment in story lines. But we don’t have good script writers, producers or directors. The Punjabi industry lacks cinema knowledge and professionalism. It is the saddest part.
My process of choosing scripts remains the same. Of whatever I read and whatever excites me is what I will continue to take up.
I don’t like high concept movies very much, and the kind of scripts that I would occasionally get offered tended to be really high concept comedies or romantic comedies. I just don’t like it. I like much more realistic movies with actual psychology and behavior in them.
I’m still fighting for parts – it’s not like I’m sitting with a big pile of scripts putting them in a ‘yes’ and ‘no’ pile.
And they were writing scripts where Christine had hit the glass ceiling. And I always thought Christine would never hit the glass ceiling. I thought her dreams would take her. Maybe her dreams wouldn’t take her where she wanted, but she still had her dreams.
When an actor asks you to read his script, your heart sinks. The number of scripts I’ve been given by actors that are so unbelievably terrible!
I wound up getting pulled into being a consultant on the Lifetime drama ‘For the People.’ The executive producer said, ‘I want you to write scripts.’ We sold pilots to a bunch of different networks.
I would be surprised though if I don’t get unbelievable critical acclaim for ‘Dirty Picture’ and a national award for my actress, Vidya Balan. The movie has one of the most well-written scripts I have come across, and a lot of youngsters in my office have looked at it with great admiration.
My own mentality is that I’ve retired. They send me these scripts and if I absolutely have to do it, then I go to work.
‘The Inbetweeners’ would have been a success with a totally different cast because the scripts are good – so while we were fortunate enough to be cast in it, we feel we still have a lot to prove.
