Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Back in the 1990s, I had an opportunity to make a film. But I realized that it is better for me to go in stages so I could explore myself as an actor and in the process I started writing scripts.
No matter what identity we cling to, it takes great courage to step out of the old masks we wear and the old scripts that we live by, and open ourselves to the mysterious inner core of our being.
What I hope in my ideal world is that with each project, I'll either get to work with a really great script that would force me to grow, or work with a really great actor who will make me better.
'The Inbetweeners' would have been a success with a totally different cast because the scripts are good - so while we were fortunate enough to be cast in it, we feel we still have a lot to prove.
One of the funniest things about Mr. Kaufman is that all of his filmed scripts - 'Being John Malkovich,' 'Human Nature,' 'Adaptation' and now 'Sunshine' - sound like titles from REM's 'Reckoning.'
After 'Muriel's Wedding,' I first went to America, and I was sent all these scripts about fat girls overcoming hurdles. Something in me knew not to go down that road, even if it was a good script.
When you first start out as an actor, you're just looking for a good part. As time goes on, if you're being held responsible for the movies themselves, you're looking for a good script all around.
One of the reasons I moved to New York was because I thought it would be easier to say no to dreadful scripts. I wouldn't be tempted to fly back and do them. There are some things even I won't do.
I've got my own TV stuff on the go, and it's all a bit oddball - it's one-offs, and I can do what, when, and how I want it, really. I don't have any scripts or people telling me to do stuff twice.
I'd read a lot of scripts, and I remember reading 'Orange Is the New Black,' and it was at the head of the pack. I remember thinking, 'Wow, that is really good. I would love to be a part of that.'
Writing film scripts is the hardest thing in the world. A script has to go to five or six drafts, and you need the feedback of other people and to keep coming back with a fresh eye, honing it down.
If you read a script enough, especially a good script - I try to read it 40 to 50 times before you begin so you get a sense of the arc: what happens before, what happens after, what happens during.
In my own life, I've written scripts that I want to direct, so I would love to take my own creativity in a way where I could tell my own story. That does inspire me, the idea of becoming a director.
I love to read scripts. But I am very happy right now to say that I am a working actor. In this town of Los Angeles, the phrase 'I'm an actor' is overrated. So, I like to say, 'I'm a working actor.'
I feel that I don't have to wait around for good scripts anymore, that I can get things moving more quickly. I can ring up directors I like and say I'm keen to work with them, which is pretty great.
As a filmmaker, I don't want to limit myself to one kind of movie. After 'Headhunters,' I went to Hollywood and read a lot of scripts: lots of action thrillers and heist movies, and superhero films.
I wound up getting pulled into being a consultant on the Lifetime drama 'For the People.' The executive producer said, 'I want you to write scripts.' We sold pilots to a bunch of different networks.
I also really pay attention to whether the script embodies a full female character or if they're just wanting a two-dimensional objectified woman. So I also have that aspect to take care of as well.
The difference between a movie star and a movie actor is this - a movie star will say, 'How can I change the script to suit me?' and a movie actor will say. 'How can I change me to suit the script?'
I've been blessed with some lovely scripts and a character that people could truly identify with. It's one of those surprises in life that makes you think, 'God was smiling on me that particular day.
I get a lot of action scripts. I get low-budget vehicles that will end up right on the video shelf. I want to do movies that I want to talk about, that I'm proud of, but I also want to make a living.
I don't like things to be overcharged, because otherwise everyone starts getting nervous. I try to be very well organized. When I write the script, everything is already in there, like the decoupage.
Prayers are prophecies. They are the best predictors of your spiritual future. Who you become is determined by how you pray. Ultimately, the transcript of your prayers becomes the script of your life.
In TV, I did scripts that were not well-written, and I learned how to make bad material okay. That's a hard thing to do; you can learn bad habits, but you can also learn to find something in anything.
If I have to choose between a Bollywood film and Pakistan film, it may sound cliched, but I will go with the script first. And if both the scripts are equally good, then I will choose a Pakistan film.
It can have an enormous effect because big budget movies can have big budget perks, and small budget movies have no perks, but what is the driving force, of course, is the script, and your part in it.
Some of the material out there - I don't want to say that it's all bad - but there's a lot of bad stuff out there. You just continue reading scripts, and eventually you find something you connect with.
I never wanted to be an actor. Because when you're an actor, you depend on other people to come to you with scripts. You can't create your own. Unless you are a Raj Kapoor, who was a producer-director.
I'd trapped myself in a script.... But to be scripted at all is to be prepackaged, programmed, pinned to a page. Only the unwritten can truly live a life. So who I was, what I was, had to be unwritten.
If you have a script that's not great, if you have a great director, you can make a great movie, but if you have a great script with a director who's not good, never are you going to have a good movie.
I was unusual looking - I didn't have the look of that time. If you look at 'Lucas' - and, basically, my first five or six movies - the characters are not described in the scripts as attractive people.
I was looking to become more proactive with my career because I wasn't crazy with some of the scripts I was getting - this was before Blow and Hannibal - so I decided to start my own production company.
I think really good drama comes down to real human emotion. That's what makes us all tick, and that's what I've always been drawn to when it comes to scripts is real human emotion and dealing with that.
Even if it's not always the best markup, what are Facebook and Twitter? They're web standards with some scripts. They may not validate, but they're still CSS layouts and simple markup, and that's great!
The secret is to get a good cinematographer and a very good assistant director. If you get those and stay out of their way, and have good actresses, the script doesn't even have to be that extraordinary.
I'm just thinking I'm just like a normal actor who gets scripts, and I read them, and... if I enjoy reading them, then that's what's exciting, then I get excited about the audition or the project itself.
I have always been attracted to good scripts and try hard to make characters as believable as possible. That means trying to figure out how they would react to situations, what they eat, think, and feel.
I write scripts in storyboard fashion using stick figures, and thought balloons and word balloons and captions. Then I'll write descriptions of what scenes should look like and turn it over to the artist.
I've been in situations where I've been sent scripts to direct, and I always end up becoming very controlling and wanting to rewrite it to fit what I think it should say, and it just usually doesn't work.
And when I'm on set, I'm just thinking about the script and of working. I think I've stayed focused on the work so much that I haven't really noticed my life start to change except for I've gotten busier.
Me and a friend literally had the idea for Wedding Crashers and pitched it, and it was already a script. They go, "That's funny! You should call it The Wedding Crashers." It was almost exactly like that .
I'm so respectful of good writing. It's the blueprint for the movie. You have to have that script there because, if you don't, you're going to have problems. It's very important. It's also a gut instinct.
Nowadays, the actors who say that they get plenty of scripts everyday but don't have time to go through them are nothing but big liars. The reality is - they don't even have a single script in their hand!
If you work in the studio system in America, they've almost got to the point where a computer programme could write scripts. Effectively, they hire and fire enough writers until they get something generic.
Being on TV sucks. It's a lot of work. You memorize scripts and then you show up and they change everything. I'm a control freak. When I'm doing stand-up, I say what I want and then I get instant feedback.
When we design for non-Latin, we always aim to create a rhythm and texture that is sympathetic so when you have the two scripts running side by side, they create, ideally, the same tonal value on the page.
I've been so lucky - I worked with Jason Reitman twice, who has always been a really strong advocate for my voice, and has always really respected the scripts that I've brought him and is just the coolest.
Showrunning is when you're the constant creative voice in the show. For a year-and-a-half, you are working on the scripts, you're fine-tuning them, you're the final say on the edit, the music and the cast.
I'm not fixed in any genre. I love all kinds of films. The essential thing is; you have to have good material. If you have the filmmaker, and the material, and the script is good, you can start from there.
A lot of screenwriters have a drawer of unsold scripts that they cut their teeth on. I don't have one. Everything I've written, after my first spec, I wrote on assignment. Everything I've written was work.