Gillian Flynn Quotes

In the best stories, people are morally complex; they are flawed. We read them because the world is flawed, and we want to see it truthfully represented. And because it can be thrilling to be shocked and upset, and even to feel, for chilling moments, what it's like to be a bad person.

If you don't care for the villain, if you don't love him and hate him at the same time, then he's just boring.

The characters are whole, real people to me that I'm getting to know, and since real people are all flawed, so are my characters, I hope.

A lot of readers want characters to behave in a responsible way, or they want to understand the characters' dilemma and act, in a way, on their behalf.

I like all my characters in one way or another, or at least I understand them.

I think that 'City of Heavenly Fire' is definitely a book where all the characters are tested to their limits, and they have to make really significant choices about who they are and who they wanna be.

In the best works of fiction, there's no mustache-twirling villain. I try to write shows where even the bad guy's got his reasons.

I don't like the idea the viewer can kind of sit there and go, 'Make me like this person.' People aren't inherently sympathetic.

In any character I ever play, whether she's good or bad or whatever, my most important thing is heart.

I have a lot of real life experience that I can draw on. And I think that shows in the characters that I play because I'm always trying to find somebody - or find characters to play that I can identify with on a personal level or relate to. And I think it makes for a little bit more of an honest portrayal.

Readers embrace all kinds of characters as long as they are written with emotional truth.

At the core, I try to write characters who are real people with real insecurities, fears, hopes, and dreams, which is why hopefully readers can identify with them.

I don't like the word 'strong,' because a strong character is never an interesting character. A character is made interesting by their vulnerabilities and their weaknesses.

At the end of the day, you have to find the humanity in you in each character.

If the reader is rooting for the protagonist, they'll forgive you just about everything else.

I can play a man who's despicable. But I'll still look inside him to find a point of connection. If I can find that kernel, audiences will relate to me.

I love to make even villains people you can relate to. When you find out who did it, I think you almost like the person, which is not easy to do.

I think TV is all about caring, and if you don't care about a character in a drama or a person when they get voted out of a reality show, it's bad TV. I wouldn't care if you dropped a bomb on the 'Big Brother' house.

You can't play a guy who's just a snake, because what do you draw on?

I think, ultimately, if you create characters that people like and can relate to, your characters are grounded on a human level even if your cars are not.

The characters don't all have to be likable, and they don't all have to be hateable. As long as it's interesting and you connect to them and they resonate with you and you want to find out what happens and it feels authentic, then we have something.

The reason why I wanted to be an actor was to understand different people and cultures.

You can't play a bad person; you can only be a person who does bad things for the right reasons.

I am most attracted to characters and stories that I can relate to. The traditional formula of 'larger than life' I never found attractive.

No matter what character your play. I feel like whenever anyone is honest and whole and well-written, you're going to be able to connect to that person because we're all kinda made up of the same stuff and I think that's always one of the really powerful things about approaching each individual character and role and film.