Sam Mendes Quotes

There's one thing better than having a great actor, and that's having a great actor who's never done this kind of role before and is hungry to do it. They're testing themselves every day. They want to get out of their trailer and get to work.

I'm in the business to push it. I'm not likely to be attracted to characters I've already done.

When I tried to play characters that strayed from who I am it ended in disaster. People didn't expect me in comedies or musicals.

Typecasting is an interesting thing because, in a way, if you're good at something, you're going to work at that thing. In other ways, you constantly have to change people's opinion of you as one thing, especially if you want to play different roles. You have to shatter that image sometimes.

I'm forever being told that I'm an odd-looking actress, so it's great playing parts where there's no vanity. You just look as rough as you possibly can!

I think if actors are successful at one thing, they paint themselves into a corner sometimes, and what's the fun in that?

The great amount of fun that I have is I can cast dramatic actors to play comedic roles, and I can cast comedic actors to play dramatic roles because, really, there's no such thing. There's just actors.

I think definitely people know me from playing creeps and weirdos, and I'm definitely looking to expand my range.

Actors are actors, and there should be a complete fluidity for anyone to play anything.

I want to do a rom-com. For me, where I come from, it would be such a stretch.

After doing 'War and Peace,' I suddenly got lots of seductress roles. It's easy to put people into a category after you've seen them in one thing that you feel fits with them. But I'm trying to make a conscious decision to do different things.

Being an actress, I want to play people that are not like me or the characters I've previously played. It's easier to get roles if you play a certain type of character but I don't want to do that.

As an actor, you want to do something which audience don't expect from you.

My priority as an actor is just to be doing different kinds of roles. I say no to anything I have done before.

I would like to take on roles which nobody would expect. I don't want to be reduced to love stories. I'd like to try dark, edgy roles. I need a challenge.

If you swap it about, do television, theatre, film, you can go on surprising yourself. The problem is you get employed to do something you've already done. They want something from that sheep pen of performances they've seen you do.

I want to try something different in Hollywood, to tell the audience I am not just an actor star - I am an actor, too.

Every actor wants to break out of the box that they put you in and that's where I'm heading, out of the box as fast as I can.

I'm in a kind of weird position where I want to prove that I can do smaller movies.

As soon as I started acting in England, I got unusual roles. Although I'm 6 foot six, and agents might standardly cast me in tough guy roles or the big guy in the back, I've been very blessed to do roles that makes them think twice about how they're gonna cast me.

I don't find myself so exercised by a desperation to be new.

Playing different characters in different films helps keep you excited about what you do. It always seems like a whole new adventure.

I would like to one day play a man. That is something I do know. I don't know what kind of man. I don't know if that would ever happen or not. It would be the ultimate challenge.

One thing I can say right off the bat is that creating great editorial is a huge challenge, and you can't help but go through the process and not appreciate how valuable this skill is, and how much I admire the people who do this every day.

I used to play a lot of villains. You have to break out of it, and I did.