Nicolas Winding Refn Quotes

I think television is really incredible because of the fact that you get to sit with a character for so, and the character does something different, every week. I think that's really interesting.

I feel like every first episode of a TV show is bad, you know, and it always improves.

I would say plotting is the most difficult thing for me. Characterization is only hard because sometimes I feel I get so interested in it that I want to talk too much about the characters and that slows the story down. So I say, "Hey, people want to find out what's going to happen next, they don't want to listen to you spout off about this or that person." But I think even the bad guy deserves to tell his side of the story.

I think ultimately that's why the audience will tune in longterm, for the characters and the relationships.

Well, I think “likability” is an overused word. I don’t watch people 'cause I like them; I watch them because they’re compelling. Sympathetic is a little different... Likable just thins you out. Working to make a character likable is what kills most TV shows.

I'm such a fan of Deadwood. I love the characters in that. They're such wonderful characters. I'm a fan of The Wire. Those are all heavily character-based shows.

I'm such a huge fan of television and what's happening in television, right now. You are able to visit characters and visit a story, week to week, push things in a different way than you can in a film, and you are able to go deeper, simply because you have more time. I'm just excited to do that. It's always good to do new things.

So many movies are so formulaic because you've got to get it done in an hour and a half. On a TV series, that's where the really interesting stuff can happen.

I don't usually watch a lot of TV, but 'Mad Men' changed my perspective. I admire Matthew Weiner who came up with the idea and wrote such a great TV series, and the broadcasting company for being bold enough to air such a series.

I think what good television does well is that it shows characters evolving.

One of the things I've been most excited by is U.S. television drama. For my money, it's some of the greatest narrative art of our time. Each series is like a 19th-century Russian novel: you need to do a lot of work in the first few episodes, just as you do in the first 50-60 pages of those books.

I grew up watching 'Dawson's Creek,' and I started watching 'The Vampire Diaries' when I was auditioning because I wanted to get a feel of it... then I totally got hooked!

I've fallen in love with shows like 'Homeland' and 'The Wire.' And I think 'The Office' is in a category like that.

I'm very focused on 'Dexter' right now. I want to make it as good of a show as we can.

I think writers have become hypnotised by the number of jokes on the page at the expense of character.

I grew up watching 'Magnum, P.I.' and shows like that, where you could develop a character over eight seasons, with stories along the way.

I really got into 'The Walking Dead.' That was genius. And I have to say, my husband is on 'Shameless,' and I think it's a brilliant show.

I love 'Game of Thrones' and 'Breaking Bad.'

'Ray Donovan' is such a revelation to everybody who's working on it, and it's only getting better.

Sometimes shows get into their 5th and 6th season and you're like, where can you go? But 'Dexter' is still so strong, it's really refreshing.

I think 'Westworld' and 'Hap and Leonard' are two of the greatest things that you can do with this oversized pool of the television medium.

'The Leftovers' is my favorite job I've ever had in my life, anywhere, ever. It is one of the greatest TV shows ever made.

Would I have traded 'Homeland' for anything else? No. Would I trade 'Billions' for anything else? No.

Often, female characters are quite one dimensional, especially in a two hour film; television gives characters room to breathe and develop.

I love serial drama.