Actor's Decision Quotes

Mr Tony Hopkins says he's willing to do it if he likes the script.

Being on a Paul Thomas Anderson film, the best decision an actor can make is to listen to Paul Thomas Anderson. Because he's probably not going to steer anyone in the wrong direction. I would always say go with your gut on any other movie set, but with Paul, I would say go with Paul's gut.

It's a nice visual. I had just done Blade and I put on more weight for Blade and I thought I might as well use it so I kept it and added a little more. I wanted him to be a big bear.

Playing a positive role on a network television show, it was great. I took it as a responsibility. Poncherello was supposed to be Poncherelli, and then when I got this part I said, 'You know what, this guy isn't going to be Italian-American, he's gonna be Hispanic American.' And they went with it.

I'm not doing Bond.

I am never going to stop playing the villain. I would be foolish to do so because the audiences apparently enjoy watching me, and who am I to say no?

When I am filming dramas, I lean towards doing what the public wants to see from me.

Most actors go, 'I read the script and fell in love with it'; I fall in love with the directors.

Nudity... I have to say I will never do it again.

I don't pick my roles based on what clothes I have to wear. I pick roles because of the character I have to portray, and the public have enjoyed seeing me in those roles.

There's a difference between ad-libbing and improvising. And there's a difference between not knowing what to do and just saying something. Or making choices as an actor. As a writer also, as a person who's making a film, as a cameraman, everything is a choice. And it seems to me I don't really have to direct anyone or write down that somebody's getting drunk; all I have to do is say that there's a bottle there and put a bottle there and then they're going to get drunk.

There was recently a story out that I turned down a role in a major franchise. That's not true. I refused to audition for it. I didn't get the part. I didn't even go in because I thought that the part was just a repackaged version of the parts I played before in these young adult films - sort of moody, masculine, but sensitive and all this kind of thing. It was just a repackaged, rather dull thing.

Quite low down in the list is "How much am I going to be paid?"... my main feeling about money is that I don't want to feel as though I'm being taken advantage of... The other actors they asked to play Gandalf wouldn't go to New Zealand on that money for that length of time. I thought it would be a bit of an adventure... I'm an eccentric actor, and there's a lot of us around.

Before 'Holby,' I'd always avoided long-term roles.

I wanted to get a cropped hairdo, but Sreenu Vaitla loves my look in 'Chiruta,' so he suggested that I keep the long hair.

I know the audience wants to see me without clothes in my coming films. At the risk of disappointing them, let me say that it's simply not going to happen. I will not do any such film.

Maybe you're better to play a villain just straight out.

I don't think a multi-starrer or a solo film has anything to do with your choice of films. That is a bit of a primitive concept, really. Yes, you might want to keep a healthy balance, but that has more to do with the kind of roles you are playing.

I'll look through a script, and if there's a lot of night shooting I tend not to want to do it. If there's huge party scenes and I'll go through a few pages and say "Well, at least I'm not in this," then the last page my character walks in and says something, I say, "Uh oh, that's going to be three days on the set sitting around drinking coffee at the craft-service table." Unless it's a great part. All in all if it's a great part you'll do it and I'll say, "Well, I'm gonna be on the set for three days."

Generally, nowadays, I'm using my own accent because casting directors want it; they like that.

I'm a character actor, and I made a choice when I was young, after 'Mystic Pizza', not to go for the mainstream stuff, and to do a more eclectic kind of route.

The bottom line is that I'm an actor, so when somebody pitches me a great part, it's a no-brainer. You never know what it's gonna be like, in terms of the actual experience. You can be really excited about a part that can turn out shitty, you can have a bad time, there's a bad egg or two or three, in the bunch, or the producers are weird, or something like that.

I have no plans to quit south films and come to Bollywood.

If I am offered good roles, I will definitely be back in Malayalam, anytime.