Project Selection Quotes

I only get involved with projects as a producer if I feel creatively inspired.

I'm a working actor so I never really pick a film because of a genre, and I don't really turn them down because of genre. Anything that's unlike the picture I just finished is always more interesting.

I'll do any kind of movie, as long as it's a good version of it.

If you know anything about me and my history, you know I'm very particular about my projects.

I haven't taken any new projects in the past years - I told myself, if I cannot live long enough to finish it, I don't want it.

I think projects find me. It's really interesting. Everything I've done, from "The Truman Show," the "Eternal Sunshine" to "Yes Man" and "Bruce Almighty," always come into my life at the perfect time.

The first and foremost criterion for me when selecting a film is the character I am playing, and then the director.

If the right thing came along, I would absolutely direct something I did not write because I love the process so much, but we'll see. I'm taking it day by day.

I'm an actor. My life as an actor depends on who sends me what. I'm just taking the best stuff that I can find that's sent my way, regardless of how big or little the paycheck is.

People say, 'Well, whose career do you follow? Where do you see your career going? What movie do you want to do next?' And I can't tell you what type of movie I would go and do next. I would have to read the script and feel for a character. And if I feel in my gut for a character, I know that that's somebody I have to play.

Before signing 'Dawat-E-Ishq,' I came across few more offers, but none of them interested me. This film has a soul, and I went for it.

I always try to pick and choose projects that will be impactful to someone. From films like 'Clockers' to playing a doctor on 'ER' to doing '8 Mile,' where I'm in charge of the hip-hop battles, I think it affects all kinds of different audiences. And I just try to keep that in mind, to keep people entertained.

I will always choose to work in a movie based on whether I would want to watch it - if I would be willing to spend money in a theatre on it. The script and the people you will work with come after that.

I always have a few ideas that are percolating, and then after I've finished a book and it's a year later, and things are sort of festering and things are disgusting in my house and I have to get back to work, whatever project I keep thinking about is the one I end up working on. Sort of a very simple process of elimination.

I'm not really a sequel guy. I did 'Angels & Demons' after 'The Da Vinci Code,' because I like working with Hanks, and I felt it was a really different sort of world that we were visiting. That was, of itself, interesting.

After I read the story of 'Dangal' and before the film released, I called director Nitish Tiwari asking him if he had any good script. He told me to wait for some time. So we had three-four sittings, and this film, 'Chhichhore,' came to him. The film did not have superstars, but I felt that this is the script that needs to be told.

I do pick my projects very meticulously. I want my projects to be meaningful.

I have tried to make decisions to work with great directors, with good scripts, and that makes the pickings real slim.

I've just always loved really good projects. The things that draw me into a new project have very little to do with genre and have more to do with the characters I'll be playing, the people I'll get to work with and things like that.

I pick different projects for different reasons. Usually, it's a combination of things. I admire the director, and I am interested in working with the director. Or, it's the cast. I can be moved by the story. The ideal situation is you love the director and you love the cast.

I do my best to choose projects that I believe highlight different things or at least provide some sort of progression for people of color.

I always try to pick projects by: Is this something that excites me? What are the people like to work with? Obviously you spend a lot of time in a room together with them, so I always try to find projects that hopefully have great people attached.

I could probably make more money if I did more commercial projects.

I'm my own worst enemy sometimes when I pick projects.

I wouldn't say I'm personally trying to transition from comedy into drama. I don't look at things like, 'Oh, I need to do a drama now.' I get a lot of material sent to me, and if I feel like something has the creative integrity and the right director and the right whoever involved, the right actors and is a great story, then I do it.