Theodore Melfi Quotes

My cartoon life is in my office, and it's very separate and getting very in my own head. My television life is I'm begging one of the actors to say the line in the way I'd like them to.

I never write with an actor in mind - never.

A part of being an actress that is sort of frustrating is that the writers get to tell you about your character.

I've gotten a lot more comfortable with the audition process, but there's something that really turned me off initially when I was younger, to auditioning. The idea that I couldn't get to the person that was actually making the film really frustrated me.

You can write and write, but if you don't have someone who can nail that character, it's never going to live.

To me, casting is all about finding a character within the actor off the screen as much as on the screen.

One of the things I learned on medical drama 'Bodies' was that actors can't play ambiguity.

I thought of Jeff Bridges in 'Hell or High Water' and Ben Foster, and I kept trying very hard not to, because you're terrified you're going to write this thing that then feeds specifically to this one person that then won't do it.

I don't really write with actors in mind; I write with characters and then hope desperately that we can get good actors to play those parts.

It's so much easier to write for an actor than for an imaginary character and then try to fit that character to an actor. It doesn't work very often in my experience.

The characters I didn't have actors in mind for, that was the scary moment. Because in any production, until you find the right person, you're constantly judging your writing or what it is that isn't working here or not clicking here, because you have amazing actors coming to read for it, and if something's not clicking, it can't be them because they're amazing actors. You're sort of completely doubting yourself.

When you're trying out on Broadway, it's very hectic, and you're making changes night after night. There's a lot of pressures from producers to make some changes, and you're writing for actors who are in it - and sometimes the limitations of actors who are in it.

I may have given my best performance but what if the role gets edited?

I don't even mind playing a bimbo or a silly girl, as long as it isn't stereotyped and there's a reason for that character to be part of the story.

When you watch films, there are so many different types of characters you want to portray.

You need to learn that, unless your lead character is written in a way that one of the 20 movie stars want to play him, your movie will not get made.

I'm never writing as a character.

I was offered a part in the stage version of 'Calendar Girls,' but the part is so predictable. It just makes me angry when I read the script.

It's more difficult for me to get into a character in the lead-up as opposed to leaving it.

As I write, I try to be the character.

I think actors are very obsessed about looking different and behaving differently, but all people need is just a different film. They don't want a different you; they want a different story.

Bill Murray, we've got to get people worthy to be on the screen with him, as opposed to just a bunch of random… with no disrespect… but a bunch of random local actors.

There's more pressure as a writer. As an actor you usually just go, do your job, and go home.

A lot of screenwriters write certain characters, certain parts, with actors in mind. I don't really tend to do that. I describe them as specifically as I can, but I don't really picture anyone in particular.

I was never reluctant to play this character; the only thing I was scared of was that Bua might be only subjected to insults on-screen which people might start taking it in bad taste. But it turned out totally opposite.