Chris Wooding Quotes

I'm not necessarily interested in telling the story of people who are super likable.

I've always been interesting in characters that challenge people and who are not always that easy to like.

I'm interested in flawed protagonists. I was raised on them.

I'm just attracted to playing people who are ostensible unlikable. That's not to say that there's something in there that makes you care. It might be that you just find them so awful that you just can't stop watching, like a car crash.

I like grey characters; fantasy for too long has been focused on very stereotypical heroes and villains.

The most interesting characters keep us hooked. Not likeable ones! Iago, Shylock, Darth Vader - are they likeable? Do you want to invite them to dinner?

I don't know why I'm drawn to anti-heroes, but I certainly am.

What I love about 'Breaking Bad' is the reflection of many people's - it's more real in terms of people have faults, people have character traits that they don't like about themselves. It resembles more of what the human journey really is and it's less fantastic and hero-driven than other characters and shows that we watch.

The go-to reflex all over Hollywood is still likeability. I've always had a problem with it because I think I have a weird barometer in the sense that some of the characters I've cared about the most in movies are characters that are often thought of as despicable.

I don't like characters that are left being jerks at the end of the movie.

The larger-than-life thing is definitely what I'm after. I've always drawn dark stories. Occasionally, I'll try a perfect hero, but it's a real stretch for me. I like 'em warts and all, and obsessive and weird.

I've made a career writing about fictitious anti-heroes. To create these worlds, I've spent a lot of time with active members on both sides of the law. And if I had to pick the most interesting of the two, the choice is obvious - we all love the guys in black.

I love stories about two people who are doing illegal things, who we really enjoy watching despite the fact that we know they are doomed in some way.

I don't really like heroes who always behave heroically. That's not interesting to me.

I like characters who have faults. I'm drawn to darker people.

I loved films of the '70s with those antihero protagonists who you don't know if you can get behind because their behavior is really questionable.

Both villains and heroes are a bit boring, really, unless they're flawed and broken somehow. If they're not flawed and broken, then clearly they need to be broken and made flawed. That's what an author does if he or she has any dignity.

I'm more interested in characters who are a little difficult.

Texas is the rendezvous of absconding villainy, desperate adventure, and lawless ruffianism—the ark of safety to swindlers, gamblers, robbers and rogues of every size and degree. Its distinguishing characteristic is unmitigated depravity.

I tend to like writing characters that are not typical heroes.

I tend to always love material with flawed protagonists and morally ambiguous people.

I'm more comfortable writing traditional protagonists. But 'Steve Jobs' and 'The Social Network' have antiheroes. I like to write antiheroes as if they're making their case to God about why they should be allowed into heaven. I have to find something in that character that is like me and write to that.

Some of my acting heroes have built careers on playing characters who do horrendous things - they're repellent and lovable. They're not likable, but they're lovable. I think Christine is one of those characters.

Jay-Z is a hero, Sam Walton is a hero - these are not exactly communitarian champions. These are - in some cases, literally; in others, just figuratively - gangster heroes. That's who is worshipped: people who get away with it.

I like the realism of anti-heroes. It's a healthy thing. I think heroes can be very unhealthy at times because it doesn't connect you to reality.