Jed Mercurio Quotes

I really think if you take away a character's obstacles then there's no comedy.

I like having a plot; I like characters with a reason to get up in the morning.

Whether you're writing a horror show or a James Bond film, I think what bubbles beneath is interesting characterization. The colors that emerge through storytelling is what a dramatist does. There's always got to be something bubbling underneath that will erupt at some point.

I try to stay away from stuff that's just action, action, action, action, action, and you kind of fast-forward through the dialogue scenes. I'm not interested in doing that. Give me a reason to fight, and I'll go there. But don't just make it, 'You touched my pen! Haaa-yah!' I've done that before.

I think plays have nothing to do with one's own personal life. Not in my experience, anyway. The stuff of drama has to do, not with your subject matter, anyway, but with how you treat it. Drama includes pain, loss, regret - that's what drama is about!

'Jersey' is a very strong story and is driven by emotions.

Action should always be about character and story, not a gimmick.

The roles I'm interested in or have been interested in, you know, it's going to get down to conflict. Drama is conflict - conflict of interests.

I like people to be surprised by the turn of events. I don't want things just to be pat and formulaic. If there's some sort of internal combustion in the character or a desire to change the way things are going, that makes for conflict, which is the essence of drama.

I think one of the successes of Gladiator is how we manage to turn on a dime the character from one thing to another where you believe he is one thing and he is something very different.

I'm all about the story. If I like the character and I think the story's entertaining, I'll do it.

When you see something that is well-written, the actors can get behind it.

I think the tricky balance, the most important thing more than the horror is to have a compelling story, compelling drama, a show about great characters that you care about and you want to come back every week to see what they're up to.

Once we got over the origin story, we could really delve deeper into their lives and characters and angst. So this movie actually has more heart, more humor.

If I've got one thing that I really believe about fiction and life, it's that there are no minor characters.

On the stage, the characters express themselves more through words than images. So the arguments of the characters and the tension between characters - words have to be used to express that, and I love that about theater.

Real life is messy, and drama is a shaped version of real life.

When you're crafting a character, it's good to have a lot of influences.

As an actor, secrets and obstacles fuel the character.

There are a lot of techniques for developing a character.

In making films, I'm constantly looking for people who are in conflict and who are going to surprise you and challenge you.

If you know your characters well enough, you aren't trying to grasp for storylines. You're really thinking about their flaws and their passions and what they're chasing.

A novel makes it possible to understand not just events, but the people who control the events; not only their choices, but also their motives.

I've dropped myself into straightforward character pieces in order to explore that form and reap its values. But you are sort of restricted visually when your first requirement is to tell a fairly straightforward story.

Keep everything in context, and try to have each line doing more than one thing - not just giving exposition but also revealing character and history, etc.