Janet Varney Quotes

Bad guys are complicated characters. It's always fun to play them. You get away with a lot more. You don't have a heroic code you have to live by.

There's something really freeing about playing a character that isn't even, like, remotely likeable whatsoever.

I like to play the weirdos. I like to play the people that are hard to like. You get to say and do things that you would never say and do in real life.

But I guess I like playing flawed guys 'cause it gives a place for the characters to go.

The thing I adore about acting is that it's not me: you get to experience all these emotions, but essentially it's not you.

You have license in front of the camera to do things, feel certain emotions that you don't get to in real life. It can be addicting.

One of the things I love about acting is that it reveals a certain something about yourself, but it doesn't reveal your own personal story.

Acting gave me the opportunity to do outrageous things. It allowed me to be sad, happy, angry and lustful, even if it was just vicariously.

Those are the kinds of roles you can really sink your teeth into. Characters with an edge. When you're playing someone who's sort of seedy, there's less limitation, there's so much space you can travel. There's room to move in.

One of the things about the '70s films I love - the films 'Nightcrawler' is being compared to, like, 'Taxi Driver' - is that they never put their flawed characters into any one box.

I can express the brooding part of myself on-screen. It's kind of fun to get to do the bratty things I really wouldn't do. And then I get to go back to my regular life.

I love being an idiot, and acting lets you be an idiot.

I really enjoy those characters like 'Profit.' With those elements that are shady and dark, you're not responsible for being a likable character. Like some of Jack Nicholson's characters, you remember them for so long.

Sometimes acting, particularly in film, can feel so contained. You need to be small and not overplay things, so it's such a relief to be able to go as far as you can go with an emotion or a feeling or a speech.

The wonderful thing about Crystal in Mr. Sunshine is that she doesn't have any boundaries. She's not aware socially of what's correct and incorrect. Crystal's probably the craziest character I've ever had to do and the furthest I've gone, with the only exception being Away We Go - I was pretty big in that.

I'm probably more personal when I'm acting than at any other time. More open, more direct. Because it allows me to be something that I can't always feel comfortable with when I'm living my own life, you know? Because it's make-believe.

My character should not be ordinary, cliched, and if I feel that it's difficult to do this character, I take up that challenge to get into his character.

I have never had more fun in my life playing a character than I've had playing Michael Langdon. He's so delicious. He's so layered and complicated.

I think that's what I really love about acting; all of the social and moral codes of society can be thrown away when you're acting, and it's just you being totally committed to the role.

Every role that one does - at least, that's what happens in my case - becomes a sort of therapy.

I choose grey characters, as I enjoy playing a human character. I don't shy away from showing the shortcomings of my characters.

On stage, you can bring all those strong emotions that you don't have the opportunity to live. You don't want to die for love every day, but on stage, you can.

I'm a very placid human being. I don't want to kill anyone. I guess I have played a lot of bad people in my career, so frustrations or angst can come out in any given role.

I always enjoyed being a villain more, probably because you get to do and say a lot of things you wouldn't do in real life.

Gleason was a rough guy. Like all of these comics, I have never known one who is a sweetheart all the way through.