Performance Choices Quotes

An actor has power, and their power is very simple: it's the power to say no.

It's better to play negative lead roles than portray just any other character on the show.

I actually have heard of acts who only do their new album, and don't do their hits. I've never been in that mind set.

I loved both [Bob] Seger and the Eagles, knowing why they didn't play some of the songs I wanted to hear. But at the same time, they covered all the big bases, and the stuff that most people had heard. But they definitely had a bunch of album cuts that I wanted to hear that they didn't get around to.

I don't really have choices in the material I get. So I have to make the choices in the way I play the characters.

I really enjoy the darker side of things. It's the type of work that I like to watch. I know some actors feel fearful of how they'll be viewed. But invariably, I find dark material can be very, very rewarding to inhabit and investigate.

If something comes along that's really good, and I think I would be good for it, I'd be happy to do it. But not too many came along. I mean, they came along for the first, I don't know, 15, 18 films, but I didn't do that many. But then I didn't want to do the kind of junk I was seeing.

At 'Wicked,' they are really great about letting you make your own choices with the roles.

That's how I digest it, 'cause I can press the fast-forward button and I know that I'm gonna have to continue to be an actor, continue to make choices, continue to perform in a show every week.

As an actor - like an artist - you have to ask, "Why do I choose a certain moment to play something a certain way?" It's organic to who we are.

I don't really do any corporate gigs or I don't really cash in which is a bit silly and much to the annoyance of my family. I'd rather just do gigs that I like and TV shows that I like rather than personal appearances at a nightclub.

American actresses have more problems than I do; I'm lucky to be able to play what I want for a smaller audience, because I have my own country to do that in.

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.

Obviously, if I'm reading in Vienna or Venezuela or Italy, there's the issue of language, and I will make choices that are more sound oriented. Or I'll try to incorporate those languages and occasions somehow.

The problem with the Moodies is not what to play, it's what to leave out! That's always difficult. We stopped having support acts many years ago just because of that. We needed getting on to two hours; there's such a big catalog to call on.

I've always been a material-based actor. That's what I've done, the choices I've made - like a heat-seeking missile.

I don't think there's anything that I would really baulk at doing on-screen. I don't think so. I've got certain pet peeves about writing... my pet peeve about reading scripts is when they give you a line reading and there'll be a line but next to your character's name it'll say 'very angry'. But I'm like: "Well, I'll decide that actually!" So, there's little things like that. That's a slight pet peeve.

I'm trying to play parts which are a little more out there, but I want variety.

I always do stories that I believe in, characters that I find interesting, and directors who I want to work with. All these factors have contributed while making choices and continue to as an actor and as a producer.

Everything I chose, I had already played in concert. For the competition, I wanted to pick pieces I know that people like.

If I get good films, I would definitely do them. But most of the stuff that I get is not good at all. They were not good scripts.

These people I play are not usually wish-fulfillment characters.

The main issue was deciding what to play: Should it be old Ramones material or new material? I had about three albums worth of new material, but I knew that people would rather hear the Ramones songs.

As actors, sometimes we want our character to go somewhere different than it goes, but that's being an actor.

Not necessarily in one concert, but they're all there to be used if you want to use them.