Sometimes I will read the whole script just to see what my character is doing, but I won't touch a script that I'm not in because it's just so much more exciting as a fan to me to watch the show as it's happening.
I play Harsh Vardhan, a good cop. 'Baaz' is a thriller, in which you doubt every character. I loved the script, as it is very tight and exciting.
People say that you want to be varied in your career, and I've done so many things and am very appreciative. But, the one thing I've never done and wanted to do was to be a regular on a TV show, where you get 22 weeks of the year to develop and play a character. I've done arcs of five or eight episodes on shows, but I'd like to have a character that's rich enough and deep enough to want to explore and live with for a few years. Playing the same character, but doing different scenes seems very exciting to me.
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.
We start 'The Butler' in June and that's incredibly exciting for me because I get to work with the amazing Forest Whitaker again. It's a phenomenal script and a great, great role - I play his son. Oprah Winfrey is his wife and my mother. My character is a radical civil rights activist.
The actor should understand the script and come prepared to play the role. At the same time, they should be flexible enough to take the director's input and portray his vision.
I have been waiting around to get the right script and the right director. For example, in the past, if a Hollywood director came to me with a script and wanted me to play a character, and she was a stereotypical Asian woman who gets into a fight and gets killed off quickly, that didn't seem to have much interest for me.
I would like to do any way possible that Howard Stark can make a return. He's such a fun character to play, and I really believe that he could make quite an exciting character to watch more of. The flawed entrepreneur, the kind of crazy playboy, from that era is an exciting concept.
It could be a great script but the director is not the right person for me to work for at this time. So there are a lot of elements that come into play and a lot of variables, but more than anything it's got to be a great script and a great character.
The first thing I do with any script is read it and try to visualize if I can play the character - if I can feel what the character's feeling.
Any character that can't be kept straight, to me, isn't a character who should be in the book - you know, anyone not vivid enough to have a claim on my attention.
I play characters, and I try to play them in a manner that's appropriate to the script. Physical movement and vitality of language is part of character.
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?'
Becoming the character you are playing might work for some, but for me, it doesn't. I always maintain a gap between myself and my character because if I will go so deep into it, it will get difficult for me to come back. You should work towards understanding the psyche of your character and then play it.
If it's a good script I'll do it. And if it's a bad script, and they pay me enough, I'll do it.