M. C. Gainey Quotes

I'm not sure Kinsey has changed in these first twelve books. I think the reader learns more about her, but from Kinsey's perspective, only three years have passed while the rest of us have been getting older at a much faster clip.

Everything you've ever read of mine is first-draft. This is one of the peculiarities of the comics field. By the time you're working on chapter three of your masterwork, chapter one is already in print. You can't go back and suddenly decide to make this character a woman, or have this one fall out of a window.

There's no environment. Use your imagination. There's no fourth wall, whether it's the first time you've told this story about her life, or the sixth time.

On 'Swingtown,' I think that's when I was able to blend the character-slash-leading lady roles, and that's what I'm doing on 'Once Upon a Time' as well. She's a leading lady, but she's also this character.

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.

I think the ultimate thing in some ways for any writer is to work on a character who's going to have a life for a long time.

I know, a lot of the films I've done, it's obvious I'm going to beat up six guys and just walk out the door. There's not a lot of motivating factors - it's just action for the sake of action.

Usually, at the end of a film it's like I've finally gotten to know this person completely, and then we're done. That actually happened on the set of 'Twilight,' and then it happened again on 'New Moon.' Each time my character Bella became a different person, and I got to know that person and take her to the next level.

In the biographical novel, there's only one person involved. I, the author, spend two to five years becoming the main character. I do that so by the time you get to the bottom of Page 2 or 3, you forget your name, where you live, your profession and the year it is. You become the main character of the book. You live the book.

Making a film of a work you've played for six weeks gives you intimate knowledge of the character. By the time you go in front of the camera you've worked out the behavior and life of a character.

By the time I wrote 'Any Given Sunday' or 'Bats,' I sort of knew what my job was in terms of what a writer of dialogue does.

I think 'Hero' is not a real martial arts movie; it is not about violence, or formula.

A lot of my characters are anti-heroes that became heroes.

The script of 'Shaapit' was such that the leading man couldn't be shown indulging into anything heroic.

Kratos began life as an anti-hero at a time when anti-heroes in games were scarce.

If you love Tarzan, you can read stories from the 'Jungle Tales of Tarzan,' where he's just a kid, all the way up until he has a son of his own and beyond. Same with 'Batman' - you can follow him from Gotham, as a kid, to 'Dark Knight,' as a cranky old weirdo. I really love that.

I think there was an opportunity as Bad News Barrett to turn me in to a babyface. I am not saying that I would have gotten to the level The Rock got to but it was certainly a chance for me to do something different and keep me motivated and stimulated by what I was doing on the show.

I'm very interested in the drama of the leading man being someone who is incapable, becoming capable.

While in 'Komban' I played the mother of Karthi, a relatively quiet character, the mother role in 'Kanchana 2' was a stark contrast.

I don't hover over the thought of only playing a protagonist.

A character takes shape in the act of writing. You start with something, and you add or subtract.

I feel that, for each show I've been doing, there's a character that dominates. Then in the next show it plays a smaller part, and then in the next it has a sort of cameo piece. So they all have their moment.

The one immutable reality of film is, no matter how wonderful the actors and the performances are, every year the actors age and grow older - Sophie Turner's Jean Grey was wonderful!

I build my characters from the day they're born to the first page of the script.

The division needs a guy like me. It's a bunch of good guys, and I'm the only bad guy in the division. There always has to be a bad guy in every movie.