A Quote by James Van Der Beek

I have a gut reaction to stuff that I read. Either it's a filmmaker that I really want to work with, or it's a story that I really want to be a part of and help serve, or there's a character that I feel I can bring something unique to. That's really what it's about. I would go crazy, if I just relied on the same tricks and did the same thing, all the time. It was just be no fun, at all. I really do need to try something different, every time out, and do something that scares me, a little bit.
I know what I'm the best at. But I still want to do something different because it's fun for me. Even though I'm really good at something, it's boring for me to do the same thing every time and it'll be boring for people who are listening to me.
I haven't been alone in years. It's that alone time when you really look yourself in the mirror and you see what you really want. It just gets a little convoluted in this industry. That said, I really want to act. But, now I think it's time for me to do something else for a while, so that I can feel that passion again.
When people go to the theater, people say they want something different, but what they really want is something the same with slight permutations. To really not know what is going to happen next is a hard thing.
In Hollywood, you tend to get pigeonholed to certain genres, and then when you try to do something different, it's not always so easy. Obviously, you don't want to keep repeating yourself, all the time. So, it's a constant struggle for every filmmaker and actor to find something that you can really feel passionate about. It's a profession like anything else.
Relationships help you learn more about what you want. If one doesn't work out, you just kind of look at it and go, Okay, well, this is what I did like and this is what I didn't like, and this is what I did wrong, and maybe I need to be more like this. And so you learn things, and that's why you grow. And you bring all the stuff that you've changed about yourself to a new relationship until you finally find that person you really, really want.
I think it's really hard to make songs that pursue an agenda. You can kind of do it a little bit through a character, so the character gives voice to something or their story, the story of the character tells you something, but, for me anyway, it's really hard to write directly about politics.
I always feel like if someone has stage fright, I really try and say, "Listen, these people want you to succeed, they want to have a good evening. They want to see something really great. They don't want to see something crappy. They don't. They want to be at something really special."
I just feel very grateful to be a part of that, to be a part of a winning team... I'm trying hard not to be used to it, but I am kind of. It is something where I've run out of people that I want to work with because I've worked with everybody I ever wanted to. I really have. I can't think of anyone I'd want to work with right now because I'd just want to work with the same people again.
Don't become something just because someone else wants you to or because it's easy; you won't be happy. You have to do what you really, really, really, really want to do, even if it scares the s-t out of you.
Obviously, you've spent some time in New York. I moved there and it was a bit much. It was a bit overwhelming for me. I didn't want to go out. I just felt a little homesick. I was just waiting to feel excited about something. I went through a phase of feeling kind of dull. It's really easy to shut off in New York and stay in your apartment.
I'd love to do films, but I'd feel bad in my gut if I did anything just for the money. I want to wait for something I'm really passionate about, even if I don't work for a year.
A big part of directing animation is deciding what you really want to do and making sure it's about something. My favorite thing about animation is the storytelling. You can really dig into the story and spend time with the writers. The writers don't just write and leave.
I heard "romantic comedy about the invention of the vibrator in Victorian England," and I was like, "You have got to be kidding me. Yes, I want to do that." And I had a bunch of small kids, and I didn't want something that was so impossibly difficult, a "broccoli movie." But I wanted something that meant something to me, so I just kind of said, "Let's go, jump in!" It took a long time to get Hysteria made, but it was really fun.
In my bands, I don't really walk around telling people what to play, just out of respect really. I mean, if there's something I feel in my gut, I'll bring it up.
A lot of people are just really confused by me; they don’t know what to think of me, so they try to compartmentalize me or diminish me. Maybe they just feel unsafe. But any time you have an overtly emotional or irrational, negative reaction to something, you’re fearing something that it’s bringing up in you.
If you really want something, it's nerve-racking, but at the same time, I try not to stress myself out about it too much because there are also so many arbitrary things that go into being cast for something - you know, like the color of your eyes, all these things that are kind of out of my control.
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