Dana Ashbrook Quotes

I haven't spent my entire career playing the guy in the bad hat, although I have to say that the bad guy is frequently much more interesting than the good guy.

Actors like to play bad guys because they're more fun. They also win more awards.

I think the parts that I played sort of broke the mould in terms of - you know, I played grey characters, the bad girl with a good heart, there was a good reason for her to be bad.

I hope it's not all I'll ever do, but I know I've played enigmatic characters. For me, the good characters are people who get places, are devious, are cunning and tricky and hard to pin down. Obviously, if you play one and you do an okay job of it, that'll be on people's minds.

I've always played the guy with the gun and the knife. That's how many actors start out, playing the bad guy.

I've been playing the bad guy in the last seven or eight projects I've done. I like it. It's a lot more interesting! Being the good guy gets a little stale after a while, you know?

I think in Vice and American Me I played very silent, rigid characters and people remember them.

I was never a villain on the stage. I always played strong, sympathetic types. My first stage role with a speaking part, believe it or not, was as a priest. It wasn't until I began acting in films that the producers and directors saw me primarily as a bizarre villain.

I started here in Australia, playing a lot of roles but never the lead guy in shows here. I always tended to play the rougher guy, the criminal who gets caught or shot by the cops. Or the boyfriend from the wrong side of the tracks.

I've played a lot of bad guys in my time, especially in movies. It's delightful playing the villain. It's almost the most interesting and most complicated role in a film.

I play tons of authority figures, whether it's the dad or the cop or the boss. I think it's a combination of how I look, who I am.

In my career, I've been lucky to do the bad guys that are more interesting, where the audience wants to spend more time with them and get to know them. That's what I'm always looking for and trying to do.

I'd be happy to play anyone's girlfriend. I'm happy to be working, ever. It's not an intentional thing to play these messed up, crazy characters, but I'm happy to do it 'cause someone's got to.

In Bergman's world I represented a sort of intellectual, skeptical, ironic person, rather cold and frustrated. When I went abroad and made films in Italy and other places, I was used in different ways. I was rather often cast as crazy people, maniacs. It was very good for me and it was fun because it is nice to play crazy people if you are not in reality. And I think perhaps that changed how Ingmar saw me. Suddenly I was on the more magical side of his world, playing the people with fantasies, variety, the artists.

Heavy role in the movies that I've done that I have loved and fit my soul; A Simple Plan, Monster's Ball, Sling Blade, One False Move, Bad Santa even. I mean Bad Santa is a comedy, and it's a very dark comedy, and it's become like iconic, you know.

I played characters with villainous aspect. But out-and-out villain? No.

Actors always want to play the villain role at least once in their life.

What I'm normally associated with are darker, more brooding roles.

I love playing bad guys; they're always much more fun than the good guy.

I generally play strong people and scary people.

Part of the reason why so many actors lose the plot when they go over to America is that they become part of an industry, so that's why they don't want to play weak, bad or vulnerable guys - because that's not sellable; that diminishes their profit margin.

I've only ever done out-and-out serious roles. I've played, like, five serial killers.

In 'Rocky' and 'Paradise Alley,' my dad played very expressive characters, and he was out there.

Mum asks why I am so often cast in adulterous roles. I think it must be because I am fairly flirty.

I want to play a villain. I want to play a romantic heroine.