Character Inspiration Quotes

I kind of modeled Optimus Prime's voice out of many people I had known over the years, my family especially.

My stepmother Angela is an Italian from New York City. I based Rhoda on her and a Jewish friend named Penny Ann Green. People often said that Rhoda seemed to be Italian. That was the Angela seeping through.

Very few of my characters are based on people I've known. It is too constricting.

All my work is partly biographical. I mean, 'Crash' was absolutely that, absolutely. But you just wouldn't recognize me in most of those characters. But I was in every single one of those characters in 'Crash,' because those were all fears that I had felt. Things that I had thought in my deepest, darkest heart.

The point of my explanation is I'm very subjective when it comes to describing my characters: they are all a little bit a part of me from the outside in or the inside out - but to put your mind at ease, I built Paul Snider from the outside in.

The creation of George Smiley, the retired spy recalled to hunt for just such a high-ranking mole in 'Tinker, Tailor,' was extremely personal. I borrowed elements of people I admired and invested them in this mythical character. I'm such a fluent, specious person now, but I was an extremely awkward fellow in those days.

My model for Kirk was Horatio Hornblower from the C.S. Forester sea stories. Shatner was open-minded about science fiction and a marvelous choice.

Every character I do has a bit of my mum in her. She's like the doyenne of Dayton, Ohio.

Are my characters copies of people in real life? ... Don't ever believe the stories about authors putting people into novels. That idea is a kind of joke on both authors and readers. All the readers believe that authors do it. All the authors know that it can't be done.

The stuff I write isn't strictly autobiographical, but it's personal, if that makes any sense. It draws all these little incidents and people out of my life and then contorts them.

Michelle Pfeiffer in Tim Burton's 'Batman' was one of the most inspiring - I saw that and I was like, 'I want to be her, I want to do that.'

I've never purposefully based a character on any one person I know, but I'm certain there are amalgamations that exist.

Francis Underwood was entirely based on Richard III. When Michael Dobbs wrote 'House of Cards' in the original British series, Richard III is what he based the character on.

I don't think Peg Bundy was very much like Katey Sagal. Definitely the wardrobe Gemma from Sons of Anarchy wears might be a little more like Katey Sagal. I mean, any time you play anything, there's pieces of yourself that you're kind of elaborating on. I mean, you're using parts of yourself.

Usually, I end up looking for something completely different to who I last played. But there is just a spark that's lit when I read a script or character I want to play.

I started improvising the Cliff character, based on someone I grew up with.

It doesn't help for you to name a character's first name be Mindy and then be like, "I'm nothing like the character."

How often do you get a movie where the coolest character has your own real last name? I played Bob Morales as a cross between my own father - the passion, the fury - and the real Bob Morales. I loved that movie. People, kids always come up to me and tell me how much they still love 'La Bamba.'

I remember talking to John Mortimer, and he said he was relying on Rumpole to keep him in his old age; well, I'm doing the same with Phryne - she's my mainstay.

Usually when I write a script, I have in mind some real people that I'm writing about, who don't always act in the film afterward.

Sometimes after a compliment about my characterization skills, I'm asked if I model my characters on real people. Emphatically, no. And sort of, yes.

There are bits of me in all my characters.

I still think of things for 'Jill' all the time. It's annoying, because I want to be able to find another character who I could write for indefinitely.

Most of my characters are an amalgamation of people that I've met, my family, or myself. Being a writer, you can draw only from what you know. I am lucky to have really rich and interesting people in my family for, you know, interesting family nights and great characters.

My heroines are part of me and my heroes are part of what I'd like to know.