Felicity Jones Quotes

Before I write the first page of a novel, I spend a long time creating detailed backgrounds for my characters. I imagine the experiences that have formed them, what makes them happy, angry, fearful, and what they yearn for.

With any character, I try to focus more on who the character is and how they got to be who they are.

If you're dealing with a character that actually exists, there's an awful lot of information there. So, you can put together, from the information, motivations, insecurities, reactions. Where does that seed get born, if you like?... What I do is put that together.

I don't know that I am fascinated with crime. I'm fascinated with people and their characters and their obsessions and what they do. And these things lead to crime, but I'm much more fascinated in their minds.

To me, the psychology behind the character is critical. So I work very hard to get into the mind of the man that I'm going to be playing, because number one, I want to understand why he's doing what he's doing. It's essential, it's absolutely essential.

To play any character, you have to have a total understanding of why they do what they do.

I also try very hard to create characters - both heroes and villains - with psychological depth.

The interesting part of the process is developing the character, you know, why did he become that? Why is the guy a murderer, or why is this guy a pervert, or whatever he is. So that's the fun part for me to delve into the abyss.

The thing that I love is human behavior - why people do what they do, who they are, and the choices that they make - and that has to always be plot driven.

The strange thing is, if I was speaking to drama students about the thing that you should do if you're lucky enough to know or to meet the character that you're playing, I'd say, 'It's obvious: you quiz them diligently about their experience.'

What I loved about the acting class was that you got to think all day long about a person that wasn't you, and figure out why they were sad and what they wanted, what they dreamed.

An actor knows much more about a character than the character knows about himself.

For each character, I try to understand what is driving them.

I love to study people and pick apart what makes a person or character who they are. I never want to get complacent in that.

It's not easy trying to get into the psyche and behaviour patterns, which are far removed from one's own personality. Some intense characters linger long after it's over on screen.

Read like a detective and write like a conscientious investigative reporter.

Personality, in our sense, is a Shakespearean invention.

Know what your characters want, know what they need most, know what they fear most, and don't be fearful of facing it, no matter how unpleasant it may be.

For me, as an actor, the challenge is mostly before the film starts when you have to get into the psychology of the character.

I'm so interested in people's journeys and what makes them tick, the movers and shakers.

I love the novelist's freedom of going into different people's subjectivity and being able to work with them as characters.

'Pumped Up Kicks' is written from the perspective like Truman Capote wrote 'In Cold Blood' or Dostoevsky wrote 'Crime & Punishment.' It's psychologically breaking down someone's state of mind and diving in and walking in their shoes.

The most interesting thing about characters are their blind spots. They miss the periphery.

Shoes tell you a lot about someone. Think of 'Strangers on a Train.' The first thing we see are Bruno's shoes. We know right away that something is up.

We want our villains and antagonists to have distinct motivations.