Joaquin Phoenix Quotes

I would love to play roles that continue to challenge and push me in different directions - emotionally, mentally, and physically as well.

I sort of latch onto roles that have something to fight against.

I like a drama. And I think that's the basis of good films, or good plays, is to have a nice drama.

Sometimes the characters that I'm most resistant to are the ones that I find the most satisfying to play, because you have to dig deeper and you have to find different parts of yourself that are not necessarily the first thing you access and that's fun and interesting.

Character development is conflict.

I think what makes compelling fiction or cinema is when you're basically taking the most intense moments of experience and you're creating a song or a narrative out of it.

As an artist, you want to do roles that challenge you and say something.

I prefer drama; I think character-driven drama is my favorite kind of stuff to go watch, and I like being challenged by that kind of stuff in that way.

I look for characters that offer me opportunities to explore some aspect of the human condition. I think a lot of actors would say that and would look for that. I've been lucky enough to find projects that let me do that.

I think plays have nothing to do with one's own personal life. Not in my experience, anyway. The stuff of drama has to do, not with your subject matter, anyway, but with how you treat it. Drama includes pain, loss, regret - that's what drama is about!

You're writing about young, vibrant people; there are wins and losses. In other words, it's great drama.

I think that I am interested in the resonance between character drama and high stakes, either situational or political or social or other kind of elevated drama, and I tend to find that those things combust.

I dig those kinds of roles where I have to dig down and find some internal motivation. I like tough roles.

The protagonists that I've played tend to be people who make trouble. Or even if they don't make it, they certainly disrupt things. It's fun to do that in life as well. But I don't think I ever played myself.

I just want to keep getting roles that challenge me to be the best actor and the best person I can be.

I really care more about the human drama than I do the thriller stuff.

I want to do something that is meaningful. After working for all these years, I want to do better as an actor now and choose roles that are challenging and satisfying.

The way I view drama is life with the boring bits taken out.

I just try to play more and more difficult roles.

If I really knew how to do good storytelling, I would be a writer. Mystery is not a huge part of it. ... It's tension, it's relationships. I think it's a struggle.

Good drama must be drastic.

I am drawn to roles that are strong, intelligent, and a little edgy. With Complications, I navigate my character Samantha Ellison through some really emotionally challenging times.

Acting was my classroom in many ways and I always believed and I still do that acting is not just about pretending to be someone else, it's also about discovering yourself and reaching deeper inside yourself.

As a writer, I haven't delved into dramatic writing. As an actor, I could always, even more so than comedy, do drama.

To me, when you have people trying to put their best foot forward but facing conflict, that's when stories are the most interesting.