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There's probably somebody out there who has been dying to be Tony Stark, their whole life, and it will never happen. And then, it comes to me because I happened to do 'Heroes.' I mean, I love it. I'm totally respectful of the position, but I wasn't pursuing it.
I'm used to working with a rehearsal process and your body. It's a different thing to just be a voice. It's liberating, on one hand, because you get to show up in sweatpants and with Doritos on your fingers, but on the other hand, it's limiting because it's just your voice.
Nine times out of ten, I'm trying to meet someone else's expectations, whether it's the director or the writer or the animator, when I go back in to re-record a line. I'm the icing on the cake, but the cake is the thing. I'm really just a hood ornament on a very solid vehicle.
You really have to bring your game and know what you want to do. And then, there are the producers and the writers and the director on the other side of the glass, and what they want. You have to be malleable to what's going to work, and you have to stay in the framework of the context.
I learned this through Iron Man - it really doesn't matter what I think about who he is because everybody has such a huge idea about what they think the guy is. You can't just rely on your instincts and your imagination, you have to match up with what the expectations are from the people.
What you would call a 'lead,' I've always considered a supporting part, and what people would call 'supporting parts,' I've considered leads. In a way, I look at it in reverse, because supporting parts - when they're done correctly - are the ones that are progenitors for storylines, to move forward.
I think network TV to a large extent has underestimated the intelligence of the American public for so many years now. It's tried to appeal to the lowest common denominator. I think the average viewer is much more intelligent than that and crave a little more complexity and are willing to pay more attention.
Television is a business and, financially speaking, they have decisions and considerations that go far beyond the creative merit of the show. But at the same time, you'd like to believe in a man's word. When he shakes your hand and says he's going to stay with it, and doesn't, it's really frustrating in a way.
The thing is, when you put a button in someone's hand and give them the power of yes or no, no is a shorter word. People just say no. The power lies in who can say no the most. But, real power, though, lies in the opportunity to say yes. I think people ultimately realize that, but not when they're in the spotlight.
You'd think they could spit out shows better than 'Champs' and 'High Incident' with the pool of talent involved, unless they're just throwing money at people to create shows and they're not really behind them. I mean, the best thing they can do is 'Champs,' a half-hour comedy about men being stupid? People can just look around and see that.
More and more people are watching entertainment on their phones. On a plane or on a train, or whatever, you see people with their headphones and they're looking at their iPhone or their Galaxy. You're reducing a medium that's meant to be seen on your 65-inch plasma screen at home for your 4-inch monitor on the train. People are ready to do either, and the content has to work on both.