Mickey Rooney Quotes

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.

It isn't so much that I choose the roles - I mean, I guess there's a little bit of a selection process - but it's more just what people offer you.

It's very rare that you get a part that you actually like. People have a misconception, whether it be because actors lie or because you're reading interviews from giantly, massively famous actors, but you don't just get offered parts, all the time. You actually have to work to get them.

Well as I said in France I didn't get auditions, and it's very difficult to get an agent in France because they conduct the business in a strange way.

It was a lot of auditions and tapings and stuff like that.

I'm never offered any sort of roles. I need to audition in a typically lengthy process to receive roles.

I never went on an audition - when they were really looking at everybody.

One of the things I learned very early on is you need to cast the kids for the characters you want them to play. They need to be who they are, right? If you want a loud, boisterous kid character, you need to find that kid.

You just start going through that process of trying to put together a cast that works. I don't know that I can explain it in a way that you can go, 'Oh.' It's a little bit like saying, 'How would he be with him? How does that feel?'

I got 'Aurangzeb' because I gave an audition and passed it.

I am constantly visible in TV shows because anybody who is thinking of a role sees me performing on TV and may say, 'Why not him?' That way I am always in the limelight. It's better than running around for good roles. I can't lobby for roles.

I was meeting a lot of directors and reading scripts, and I was like, "Well, I'd love to play this part," but I couldn't.

I haven't really auditioned much in my career. I've been lucky in terms of the feature work; it's mostly been people that have been fans of mine that have called and said "We have this part, do you want to do it?" That kind of thing. And that's sort of still the way it is right now - I don't really go after features too much.

I worked so hard on that role [of Debra in Dexter]. And I barely worked on Rita. But I read for casting - both parts - and they said, "That's great, we're going to bring you in for producers." So I read for some producers - both parts - and they said, "That's great, we're going to bring you in to meet the creator." And I went in, and as soon as I walked in the room, he looked at me and he said, "Oh my god, you're our Rita!" And I said, "No! I'm Deb! I'm a total Deb!" "No, you're Rita!".

It was great and I had fun that day even though I was so sort of pleased when it was over to get through it. I didn't realize at the time that usually they screen test a number of actresses for the part, but they only tested me. So I think they knew then they wanted me to do it, and I wish they told me because I wouldn't have been so nervous. That was quite funny.

Casting is great fun, except for the business of it. I love the casting process. I love the editing process. I love working with the music. And even prep is very exciting. But once you get there and the clock is ticking, all it is is stress.

If people offer me decent roles in good films, of course I'll take it. But I just didn't like the actor lifestyle. You end up focusing all your energy on trying to get parts you don't even want.

The cold-audition process is not a science, so I ignore that.

I've never, ever, in my entire life, been upset at a casting choice.

I get them [auditions] from time to time, and I sometimes get auditions for big dramas, and I often think, well, I'm not going to get that part. This was a big surprise - it was The X-Files.

I've had a couple opportunities where I've been on the other side of the audition process as a director.

To make a long story short, I auditioned for the role of Piper because I read the pilots every year and this show was head-and-shoulders above any pilot I've read in awhile. It was amazing. So, I read for Piper and I knew that I wasn't really right for it, but I loved it so much that I wanted to read for it.

I think it was in my second week that I auditioned for Battlestar. I was very "Oh gosh, I want to be in television, I want to be in something, but I don't know if I want to be in this."

My Dad always told me that casting agencies are like artists picturing their paintings in their mind. They know what they want for a role and not to take it too seriously [if I dont get the part].

I think auditioning can be very reductive and I just hate how actors work really hard and most of them aren't going to get the job, and I hate putting them through that.