A Quote by Paul Dano
You look at the part in '12 Years A Slave,' you finish that script - I mean, it's a powerful story. You go, 'Man, I have to play a bad character in this.' And then you go, 'Well, do I want to play a bad character and contribute to a good story?'
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Definitely the script because you want to be part of an interesting story, you want your character to be a challenge, then comes the director. But essentially it's the script first and whether it's a character that you think you can do.
I want to look at this character from all points of view. I know I don't want to make them all good or all bad or all anything... the story itself often helps create the character.
Frequently over the years, people have thought that they know me. Every character actor has this story, I'm sure. It goes like this: 'Um, do you play soccer?' 'Did you go to such and such church?' 'I knew you when you were with so and so... ' Then I go, 'Well, sorry...' and then they say, 'Wait a minute. Are you an actor?'
If the story is insensitive to a person and is not nuanced enough, that's a story I don't want to be a part of. Otherwise there is no other character that I don't want to play.
I always look for the character that gets into your guts and tells you, 'You have to play this.' You have to be brave enough to let everything else go and let the character guide you. When I read a script, I look for that kind of pull.
I always tend to see, right after reading the script, the character and how I want to play it. I guess that's sort of most of the work, preparing for the role, but almost the creation of the character seems to go on as I read through the script.
I seek a diverse spectrum of roles. If I just was in a large-budget feature for a younger audience, then I want to find a smaller, more character-driven piece that might be for a more mature audience. Or if I'm playing a goofier character, then maybe I want to go play a serious, psychopathic character. But at the same time, it's usually a case-by-case basis where I'm judging the merit of a role by the script I'm given, and it usually has less to do with the larger framework and more to do with how the part personally appeals to me in that moment.
If I like the story and it's well written, and it's a character I want to play and they'll pay me, then I decide to do it.
I envision the script as a story in my mind, memorize the entire thing and have it play out. It helps me figure out where my character needs to go.
Not every character that you play is going to be somebody that you like or love, but every character that you play has a story that is worth telling. If you're not the person to tell it, that's one thing. But if you don't want to tell it because you are afraid of the unpopularity of the character, I view that as a missed opportunity.
Well, you know, I never want to feel like I have a set plan of what I'm supposed to do. I kind of like to go script by script, and if I like the character and like the story that's why I want to do a movie.
Sometimes it's less about the character and more about the story for me. I'll play a rock in the background if I think the story is fantastic and I can be a part of it somehow. That's what I look for.
Then I got the offer to play Buck Rogers, but I turned it down thinking it was a cartoon character. Well I was wrong, it wasn't at all. So I read the script and decided I liked the character, it had a good concept.
Also, getting the chance to play a supporting part meant that I didn't have to do as much as the protagonist, such as running around telling the story. [As the protagonist] you push the story whereas, paradoxically, as a character part, you have a chance to explore some of the nuance and some of the more complicated aspects of a character.
Whenever I read a script or sign a film, I don't see whether he is a bad guy or a good guy. I see how much the character is contributing to the story? How much is the importance of the character in taking the story forward? And what new I would be able to learn and what new I would be able to try in that?
I always go with the story and character and if those are good and if the setting is something that's scary (horror films seem to always take place at night and the weather's always bad) then I might be interested.
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