evolving characters Quotes

Change is fundamental in story. If things go static, stories die.

All of a sudden I was Joan [Mad Man] and they're going, "Oh, so she plays a badass in this." And I'm like, "Oh my god, I get to play badasses." Firefly was a little bit of that, but she started out as a mouse and then she turned into a dragon. But I never really had that opportunity. So all of a sudden people were like, "Oh, do you feel like you're being typecast?" I would say, "No, this is just opening the doors." No one thought I could do it and someone finally trusted me to do it.

I think it would be self-indulgent to go, "Oh, I'm going to make this character different by giving him a quirk of some kind." I don't think that serves the story, particularly. But even very similar scenes with a different set of actors, a different set of circumstances, it starts to evolve as a different character.

In my stories, I think, as I've gotten older, the characters have become stronger and more independent, and more capable of making unconventional decisions.

Hopefully, every character that I take on, as I grow older, becomes more interesting. Obviously, as I grow older, I have more to bring to the table and more experiences that I've lived myself, so I'm hoping that I can color my characters, more and more.

There's a thing, in general, about doing any kind of series, especially when the characters remain the same. It's just that you can go back and try and improve whatever you did in the last movie, which never happens. That tone or work ethic is nice.

While there are things with this job that remain constant, in terms of how you shoot, the actual crux of the character is always different and always evolving.

I would never wish to say that I've finally waved goodbye to any character, it's just that the emphasis tends to shift.