Gene Luen Yang Quotes

When I was doing 'Ordinary People' and 'Taps,' I never wondered if it would have a lasting impression. I was just wanting to make the best film we could and do my part in that and be true to what my responsibilities were.

You've got to be honest with yourself aesthetically about who could you play. You want to artistically be true to that character.

It's very, very important to me, no matter who the person is, to play that person with the utmost degree of truth that I'm able to bring. But playing a character like Jack Sparrow or Willy Wonka, that requires nothing but a degree of responsibility to the intent of the story - responsibility to the film-maker to deliver the goods.

I think the main thing to remember when writing a novel is to stay true to the characters.

I always tell myself that when you're playing a character, pretend they're on trial and you're giving the best witness of their life. You really need to think about every element of the character and represent them properly, as if they were a real person. You want to give 100 percent of what they're worth and what they deserve as people.

I have not done any film where my role didn't make sense.

When you're playing someone that's real, there is that hanging weight of how will they feel when they see this: will I make them feel exposed in some way, and how do I absolutely avoid doing that while playing this as accurately and empathetically as I possibly can?

I think if characters change too much, it's unrealistic; their whole fabric of who they are as a person doesn't just disappear.

Before there was any talk of a movie, people would sometimes ask me what actors I would imagine playing these characters. And the only thing I could ever say is: I have such a clear idea of these characters that they'd have to play themselves.

I don't like to do too much psychological research because it might turn a character into a patchwork.

I haven't worked enough to worry about getting typecast, but I do as a film lover didn't want to be working with the bad guys. I didn't want to be making a movie I thought was contributing to a lower base of movies that I just didn't think were helping people, really.

Whenever you're going to play a real person, you run the risk of well, everybody in the world kind of has an image of what that person is and who he should be and so you really have to do your homework.

I've done a number of things based on real people or true stories or based on books, and I'm a great believer that you have to be true to the script.

I knew what kind of genre 'Casa de mi Padre' was going for. But my character, specifically, I think is very real.

Always be original. Never duplicate what you've seen another actor do. Be true to the character that you've been given, and the rest will come easy.

Actors pull from their own experiences to bring reality to the characters. I wouldn't want to play someone who's a lot like me. There would be no turning it on or off.

I want to be true to the character and maintain some consistency and give the audience what they love while at the same time keeping things fresh and grow the character.

There's no point in using someone else's characters if you're going to turn them into your own vision. You have to be loyal to that person's worldview and sensitive to what they would and wouldn't have done with their characters, and how explicit or inexplicit they would've been.

My thing about looking good is that it should be the character. If I'm playing a character who's concerned about his body - an athlete, say - I'll get in shape. If I'm playing a character who doesn't or wouldn't, I don't. I almost never get in shape for a movie, even though I know it would be a good career move.

I know myself - I cannot just play a cliche. It has to be a character; it has to be written with the complexity of the human being behind. Could be bad, could be good, could be someone we would hate, but still, I need a reason for that influence, and I need to understand why.

Once you have invented a character with three dimensions and a voice, you begin to realize that some of the things you'd like him to do to further your plot are things that such a person wouldn't, or couldn't, do.

I'm constantly trying to mine the DNA of John Constantine and stay true to that character in the comic books.

Good art however 'immoral' is wholly a thing of virtue. Good art can NOT be immoral. By good art I mean art that bears true witness, I mean the art that is most precise.

Once he became a series character, I made the conscious choice that he would never act like a series character, never wink at the reader, never pull his punches. Better for him, better for me.

I think when you're working with a character that another writer is acting as - for lack of a better word - custodian of, your obligation as a professional is to not do anything that violates that 'primary' take.