Andrew J. West Quotes

You have to play the logic of a character.

When you get to set, you don't try to play the plot; you just play the character.

I know all actors are different, but I've never sat down and asked the writers, 'Where are we headed? Am I good or bad?'

I do not use any set methods, not even The Method. The character after all is in the lines.

My school of thought with going into a character is that you have to understand where they come from, and you have to empathize with them.

There are very few works of fiction that take you inside the heads of all characters. I tell my writing students that one of the most important questions to ask yourself when you begin writing a story is this: Whose story is it? You need to make a commitment to one or perhaps a few characters.

Everything I've ever learned about acting - and I went to theater school - was about playing what the character wants and throwing yourself fully into going after what the character wants.

I've never been a method actress; I've never been that person that wants to imagine horrible things happening in your own life in order to exploit them for your emotional being in the movie. I'm just not good at doing that.

The story is always in service to the characters, and is only as long or short, or neat or ragged as it needs to be.

For me, I always have to establish a reality for the character. In very actor-y terms, you just have to understand his reality.

I never do any research for my roles.

I think you've got to understand your character and where they're coming from.

I have a very schoolish approach to acting. I like to do my homework, know more about the character, and study it. It's all about the craft.

I guess because I pay so much attention to the physical part of the character, I don't look upon it as like Charlize Theron up there. I don't think of them as like Charlize Theron films.

As actors, you don't actually need to know the future of the character. You just need to know the backgrounds.

I try to think what the character is thinking. Then, hopefully, I begin to feel it. I act and react not because I'm recalling a dog killed by a fire engine, but because I'm concentrating on what the character is going through.

There are two schools of thought: There are those actors who explain to you that they know exactly how they're going to do the part... And then there is the other method, which is to have no method at all. This is mine.

I always believed in my characters. I lived them.

I always find that I have to be emotionally on my character's side for it to be convincing.

A friend of mine who is in the publishing business knew I was writing a book, and he said, 'Have you said anything yet about the good guy? Because I know you spend so much time with the bad guys.' Because they're fun. So then you have to make the good guy fun, in order to compete. That's the challenge.

I'm more interested in character than events. I've observed that about myself as a writer. I find events, even the most dramatic sort, not to be such fertile ground.

Ultimately, the idea of acting is to understand the people you're playing, and then where they're coming from is not so mystifying. You've got to detox a bit after, though.

I don't really ever think about whether or not I like the characters I'm playing. I'm more into the minutiae of their behaviour or what they're doing in a certain scene.

In the work that I normally do, you have a whole script, a whole arc, that you play. And I do believe a good actor will play every bit of information they're given.

I would say I have sort of a natural gift for character, and following one person's point of view at a time, and dialogue, but I'm not naturally good at strong plot.