Wes Craven Quotes

I once literally had a casting director ask my agent, 'Can she play anything other than a drunk?'

I'm only wanted by directors for the image I give off, and it makes me angry. I always wanted to be an actor and not a beauty pageant winner.

I don't really worry about being typecast much. I mean, everyone in Hollywood is typecast to a degree.

I haven't deliberately set out to play the blonde bombshell in my movies. In fact, it's probably been quite the opposite. After the success of The Mask, I wasn't offered all that many blonde bombshell parts, to be honest. I think people believed from the beginning that I could actually walk and talk at the same time.

The point of being a movie star is that people cast you in a role. Actors tie themselves in knots trying to get out of that.

I always play these bad guys, and I'm really a nice guy.

There are a lot of horror films out there that are nasty, but what's nasty isn't necessarily scary.

The great thing about horror films is that they work on a low budget. The genre is the star. You don't need big movie stars, and I actually think a lot of times that the best horror films are the low budget contained ones.

I know that when you do similar kind of films, one after the other, people tend to stereotype and say, 'She is only good at this.'

Men still assume I must be like the girl I played in 'Emmanuelle.' John Wayne was never accused of killing people during his free time, but I'm forever stuck with the image of 'Emmanuelle.' The truth is, I should have got an Oscar for that role because I'm nothing like that woman.

Once you play a superhero, is there any way back again? Once you're a superhero, it's just crazy.

I find that at almost every press junket I get that comment, "this character's different from what you generally play..." And that's OK! But I think "generally play" stems back to Mr Darcy. I'm fine with it but I tend to find that if it's a departure, which in other people's words it always is, it's always a departure from that.

People ask me if I'm afraid of getting typecast, but you can't be afraid of that. It's really not up to you. I'm getting other parts that aren't vampires. I don't know if people will accept me in them, or whatever, but there's really nothing to be afraid of.

I sort of went 'Oh, great. I'm getting these great roles and I love doing them, but I'm going to be Anthony Perkins for the rest of my life.'

I love the horror genre. I consider myself a genre filmmaker. I love genre, but I think there's a certain amount of complacency that comes with watching a genre film; people know what the devices are. They know what the tropes are. They know the conventions.

Everyone thinks I am exactly like the characters I play.

I've always wanted to do a horror film. I don't know if my agent will be happy I said that when I get sent some crap horror films, but I'd like to do a good one, like 'It Follows,' or 'The Babadook.'

I'm not going to work outside of genre. It's going to be horror, action, or sci-fi. I don't ever really see myself being interested in movies outside of that.

I want to play someone really dark, like a real bad guy on screen. But I am sure I won't be able to do so because my fans will not let me do it. They are aggressive. My image is such that no one will allow me to do a negative character.

By doing a masala film or wearing a bikini, I am not trying to change my image.

People approach you for the work they have seen you do. I don't think people see me as a lover boy dancing around, so I haven't received a role of that kind. I'm going to do roles that appeal to me.

Every actor gets an image without wanting one. A lot of romantic heroes want an action hero tag, but they are unable to succeed even though their films are good.

Child actors become types. The cutesy type, the funny type, the dark type. Any time you're a type, your career's over. It's not been effortless for me; I've had bumps in the road, you know? I was in Dumb And Dumberer. It's not been a flawless thing so far. But all in all, I'm proud of it. Most proud of it because of the diversity. Because the genres are different.

I have always wanted to play different kinds of stuff, but it's hard, first to find good material, and then to change people's perception of you so they'll let you do it. I mean, I would really like to play a poet, but once they get this notion of you as a street guy, it's hard to change that.

Horror films have been with us forever, so you can't say I originated that in any way, but it sort of brought back a classical way to make a horror film.