Yes, I am aware that I have become a caricature. I’ve thought about this. Conceptually, what I’d like to do is the equivalent of writing myself out of the script.
For me acting is a passion and an art, and always will only be that. I don’t have any rules when it comes to acting. I’ll do anything. But it depends on the script. Either I’ll have passion for the project or I won’t. It’s got to fuel me.
I’m not famous for my back story investigations; I’m lucky that I work with good writers and it’s usually in the script.
When I was 21, I wanted to write like Kafka. But, unfortunately for me, I wrote like a script editor for ‘The Simpsons’ who’d briefly joined a religious cult and then discovered Foucault. Such is life.
I’ve been spoiled by this project. I was given the script and went in to read, realizing that this was a powerful story and one that wasn’t told very often.
I love improv. ‘Crazy, Stupid, Love,’ the script was really great, but the directors were open to letting you try different things. And that felt like a muscle I hadn’t exercised in a really long time.
When a script moves me, I find that I immediately understand a character. Of course not completely, but I do understand.
‘Quantum of Solace’ was a bit of a different circumstance than a lot of my other films because you’re stepping into a franchise, and also in that particular film, we’re dealing with a script from the writer’s strike, which was difficult to handle because there was never time to really develop a finished script.
Triple tonguing? It was sort of invented. It wasn’t in the script. It was something that I came up with.
I think I do have a good eye. It’s quite liberating, being in a position to read a script and say, ‘No.’ It’s really the only power you have, as an actor.
There’s something about taking a film from concept to script, through production, and then to see the final thing happening in the edit phase. It’s almost like a miracle in the making.
I get so excited about reading a new script.
A script is only as good as the director who’s making it.
It would be great to read a script, which is an action script uniquely written so that it doesn’t cost an arm or a leg because we are now accustomed to seeing action in the superhero form.
I found Hollywood pretty bruising and uncreative. The executives are all in thrall to the boss, and spend their times double-guessing him or her, and trying to remember what he/she said and then applying them to the script, whether it was useful or not. They’re all in fear for their jobs.
I was sent the script for ‘Silver Linings’ when I was doing a play in D.C. at The Kennedy Center with Cate Blanchett and I was sent the script and asked if I was interested, and I said ‘Oh, boy am I!’
I did all my directing when I wrote the screenplay. It was probably harder for a regular director. He probably had to read the script the night before shooting started.
I can connect with whoever I want to connect with in the world. And I can also write my own script. I don’t have to follow rules. I can sort of just be unconventional.
I had heard that Robert Duvall was interested in doing ‘Lonesome Dove,’ and he’s one of those actors with whom I’d work on any project. So I tracked down the script and started to bug the producer, Dyson Lovell, to get in there.
I think a good script is a rare thing, and I think no matter who you are you have to fight for the good ones.
And I’m auditioning right now for a movie, and then I have a script that I’m reading right now for a horror film, and I’m meeting for a couple of television shows that I just had yesterday, and pretty much was offered one of them.
I usually choose movies that I would want to see. I appreciate drama and if the right script came across my desk, drama you will see.
Writing, yeah. Me and my friend Scott Bloom just finished the first rough draft of a script. It’s taken us three years to do, but we finally got a first draft. And we’ll see whatever happens with that.
If I’m not afraid when I’m reading a script, that means I know I’ve done it before. If I read something and think, Wow, I can’t play this part, then I want to play it more.
I’m a huge Emile Zola fan, and when Bill Gallagher said he was writing a new character for ‘The Paradise’ and had me in mind for the role, I knew I wanted to play Tom Weston before I’d even read a word of the script.
Why hire these geniuses if they’re forced to stick with the script? You want to empower your actors as collaborators.
When I’m shooting, I don’t care who the star is. I have an actor playing a part, and I’m serving the script, not serving anyone’s career.
The thing with acting is I’m at the liberty of someone who wants to book me. With music, I can do it all the time. With acting, I could, too, if I wanted to write a script and do that whole thing, but music is a constant thing. Acting, I have to audition.
What appealed to me about ‘The Loved Ones’ script was that it had this really theatrical element to it. I thought that the scope of this character is so broad, and there is so much fun to be had playing a crazy teenage loner. It was a great way to explore the delusions a mind can create.
My sister and I said, Dad, are you doing to do anything about that? And he mentioned treatments other people sent him that he’d been working on. So we thought it would be kind of cool to give these guys a real script.
I’ve always found the script to be more of a skeleton, the template.
When I get a new script, I write a record of how many costume and make-up changes I have. I cross-check them against the shooting schedule and then consult with the hair and make-up designers.
I heard about the project over a year before we began. My American agent said, ‘Oh, you might want to read ‘In Cold Blood’ because they’re talking about you for Capote, but the script’s with Johnny Depp and Sean Penn at the moment.’ So, these things take their time to dribble down the food chain.
I don’t have any ego, and I will go and audition for parts if I’m offered an interesting script.
I’d love to work on a script in collaboration.
The movie wasn’t really derived from Dark Shadows – they developed a whole new script for that particular one.
It’s all about the script. Reality is key to me and less cutesy.
But if you put a script up in front of me to read, or a cue card, I couldn’t do it without stuttering.
I’ve turned down jobs because I’ve said, ‘Honestly, I can’t find my way in. I can’t do it. I love you, as a director. I think the script is good. You deserve better than I think I can do.’
What happens is things come to you – director, script – and if you respond to it, it’s because it’s tapping into some part of what’s inside you, and different roles tap into different parts.
I had a feeling about directing Cocoon II: The Return. At first I wasn’t too interested because it was a sequel. Then I read the script and was excited by the relationships and its mystic quality.
‘Quick Change’ was my first real movie. It was an interesting audition process because there were no lines in the script. Bill Murray’s character would say something, and Geena Davis and Randy Quaid would say something, and then it would just say, ‘The cabbie speaks.’ How do you audition for that?
I think every script I read has something that sends me into a state of panic but that usually makes me want to do it.
The first thing that attracts me to any script is the writing. If I find myself becoming lost in a good yarn, then I feel certain that others will, too.
In the original script, my character was a basketball player rather than a boxer. I didn’t think I could pull that off. I’m a little short to be a basketball player!
I’m a very visual person when it comes to writing music. I like to see something besides just a script, even if it’s just a storyboard or pictures from the set.
I love OneRepublic, The Script, All Time Low. I love pretty much every genre. I love the Rolling Stones and Elvis.
Generally, if a good script comes in I read it, and if it appeals to me, it appeals to me. And it doesn’t have to be anything – it doesn’t have to be the main character, it doesn’t have to be a huge part. It could be a nice cameo – anything that I think is good and surrounded by good, enthusiastic people.
I’m an instinctual actor. I don’t really talk about it. Usually if I get a script and I’m having trouble with it, I go to sleep and I dream about it because I’m super internal with the way I work.
For me, it depends only on the script, the part I’m doing, and the people around me. It could be in Greenland or the Sahara. I don’t care.
I started writing ‘Leaves Of Grass’ when my professional life was falling apart somewhat. I just had a movie implode in pre-production. And so I came back licking my wounds to New York, where I live, and started to write a script about a protagonist for whom the exact same thing happened: His life was falling apart.
I like to rehearse with the actors scenes that are not in the script and will not be in the film because what we’re really doing is trying to establish their character, and good acting to me is about reacting.
When you are working on a script, the story itself is not difficult. You say this would happen and then this, resulting perhaps in this. And the dialogue you make as true as you can.
