Philippe Falardeau Quotes

The great thing about working on a genre show is that you can basically have a season finale where every character is left destroyed, and then hit the reset button and come back for the next season.

As for doing more dramatic work over comedy, I do whatever turns me on at the moment.

Movies, I don't really get the bad guys. In theater, I get more bad guys. Both audiences and directors are more willing... to allow people to stretch. In movies, you do one thing, and then that's their reference.

I find the constraints of drama actually freeing: It brings everything down to character and action.

It so depends on each script, because you can say... I always thought I wouldn't have wanted to do something that was kind of like as big and commercial as 'The Dark is Rising,' but I really liked the script. I thought it was really clever.

It all comes down to what is best for those particular genres, and if you believe in the stories that you're telling and the characters that you like that you want to tell those stories with, you can pretty much apply it to any genre.

I don't really make movies with an intention other than asking myself, 'Do I love the character, and do I love the story?'

Everything that I am going to do as an actress doesn't matter where it's coming from. It just has to be interesting.

I always put myself in the audience's place and see if, as a viewer, I would want to see the film. If yes, then I want to know who's directing it, what my character is, and if it's impactful. If all these points fall in place, I'll do the film. If not, then I won't think twice before saying no.

Whenever I like a character or a script, I take up the project and leave the rest to the audience.

I never look at how many songs I have or how many girls are there in a movie. If I like my character, I play it.

I find it very strange when people say that they are trying to solve 'Uncle Vanya' or find a solution for 'Henry V.' Plays aren't puzzles. They are about playing. But so much theatre has become about performing and acting rather than playing, which is a great pity because audiences are captivated by watching people play.

I am open to doing comedies, romantic stories, and commercial cinema, but it has to work for me so that I can give a year of my life in making it.

I've just looked for ideas and great characters that I relate to and that I think I can offer something to the audience, and I no longer look at them as experiments or genre exercises at all.

We're at a point nowhere it has to change. We have characters that are not alive that are alive in the book. We have characters that never appeared in the book. We have a lot of events that didn't quite happen the same way in the book. But there's so much in the book, stuff we've passed in the timeline that I really thought was awesome, that I really wanted to get to.

I got called and was told, "We'd like you to do The Hobbit", which was my favorite of all of them when I was a kid - "And we want you to play a character that's not in the books", I gulped and hesitated, but then I went, "These guys know this world, and they represent this world so well, that I actually think they've earned the right to have a little play."

I thought, "If I could bring these characters [Wonder Boys] to life and lead the audience to react the same way I did, this could be a really special picture." Then I read Michael's [Chabon] novel and got even more enthusiastic about it.

We in Illumination Entertainment tend not to put ideas through a brand funnel. We've collected a group of people who share a certain taste, and that is connected to our aspirations for our brand. We pride ourselves on making character-centric movies. If I had to say what's the most important thing this company does, it's creating characters that stay with the audience long after they leave the theater.

I don't worry so much about the audience. I want them very much to be involved and enjoy the movie, but I try to just inhabit the character in a full way, where I can create a personal stake.

My feeling has always been if you entertain people, they give you permission to do more on a thematic or character level.

Get to know your characters as well as you can let there be something at stake, and then let the chips fall where they may.

Sometimes not honoring your character makes for really good television, but that also can really upset fans. You have to turn things upside sometimes. As a storyteller, you have to know that sometimes you're going to let your fans and the audience down because you have to do your part in servicing the story.

Generally my instinct is to not do biographical movies. I want to build characters and not be locked into playing a part in history.

Mainly, I try not to think about my readers as I write - I just think of my characters and myself - If they're interesting to me, my hope is that they'll be interesting to others as well.

When you find theater writing like in the theater on film but it's realistic, it doesn't matter who the character is, you want to do it.