The number 1 thing that I don't want to see in a story is when characters exist simply to be proven wrong.
The more limitations you put on a character often times the better a character you'll make them, the more interesting the story becomes because the character can't simply wave a hand and make something happen. They have to work within the framework.
To go too much another way, for the sake of my ego in wanting to create something... in the situation of Superman is just wrong. Especially since we're continuing, in a sense, that story. The characters have to feel somewhat similar. What are you going to do with Superman? The world, and all the people that have created it, created him and have all kind of come together to make this image. Everybody kind of has the same idea of what it should be. So for me to go, "Okay, no, I think he should have a southern accent." Or something crazy, just doesn't make any sense.
Really it's all about what's inside the Superman suit. How you feel about yourself when you put that on because it's very revealing and very imposing if worn with confidence, I suppose. The first time I wore it, I didn't have that as much. I hadn't really trained any, yet. I hadn't read the script, I hadn't really worked on the character at that point. And I was standing around with a room full of costume designers and everybody was judging me right away and going, "Don't make your judgment on it, if this is Superman quite yet or not," because I hadn't done all the work that I would later do.
I always prefer the character moments. For me, personally, whether I'm shooting the gun or not shooting the gun, I really don't care. I'm the guy who's like, "Whatever you want me to do." But, I really get excited about the character moments that are steeped in emotion when the stakes are high.
I think I was always interested in darker characters just because there was a lot more to do.
Everyone's different. I mean, some people write journals for their characters and stuff, but that was never really my area.
Characters for me are born on page one and they die on page 100.
I feel that as a writer and as a performer too. I never really thought about backstory for characters. It was much more of a musical approach: You learn a melody, and then you sing it, I suppose, or you find a rhythm or a cadence that works for the material. And then it's sort of about hitting that note correctly and finding those beats.
I did not always agree, personally, on the positions that Bartlet, character from the West Wing, took and I argued against them on many occasions. But Aaron Sorkin said, "Martin, that's you, that's not Barlet. It's a very political decision he has to make." I found from the very beginning that when I infused my own personal feelings about an issue it went against the grain of the character.
I prefer to have longevity. I like as great a variety as possible, hopefully to avoid getting stuck in one kind of character, having to do it over and over again. I seek to challenge myself as an actor - and at the same time support my family.
The obvious example would be Jesus. Jesus is an object of fascination for me. He's an interesting historical character because we don't know much about him. He seems to be a guy who was in touch with something deeper than most people around him were and someone who was very concerned with trying to communicate that.
I mean, I can do that all day long. I can tell you the Vulcan's are not actually devoid of emotion. That they work hard to suppress their emotions. And of course, there actually are no real Vulcan's, though I know the ins and outs of them as fictional characters.
But people do the same thing with the Bible. They memorize all the fictional characters, the parameters and the rules of the game and think it's important, but I can't get excited about that myself.
I like books that have razor-sharp plotting that snaps and moves along. It's not about the main character being different at the end. I don't want my main character to be different in the end. I still want him committed to his ideas, to be steadfast, true and loyal
Jesse [James] was known as a kind of Robin Hood character and also it was known that his exploits were somewhat dubious - however, he perpetuated this myth. Our film [The Assassination of Jesse James] really takes place at the end of all that, the last year of his life, at the end of all that celebrity.
You hear stories of intense actors who can't shed their character and who don't know who they are for a week or two after. I'm not that guy, man.
There is no better place to plot the death of a character than when you're miserable and working out.
Having been a theater person first, you have the whole character, and you see the arc of the character in a play. And then when you do a movie, you have the whole character - or, if it's a small role, there's not much arc, but you see what the whole part is.
I believe locations should try to be and evoke the characters in a movie.
Any great character is the combination of a brilliant actor and the right writing.
I am good when there is something central about the character. There is always a human theme I attach myself to. I am really looking for something that is moving or enlightening or something with depth as an actor. I look for these kinds of roles.
I was approached by this guy Chris Renshaw, who had read my book and had read Leigh's book. He wanted to incorporate both characters - he probably felt Leigh wasn't famous enough and he realized Leigh [Bowery] and I were associated.
I like the big bombastic singers, but I'm also very drawn to what I call character singers. They're people who obviously aren't very huge singers, but they've got this ability to tell a story and touch you emotionally without really using any kind of histrionics or special effects.
My character [in Ted Bundy] was unaware of all the murders that were being committed by him, so I kind of tried to keep myself out of it and kind of keep an innocent point of view from it. The hard scenes for me were the sex scenes just because there's like sexual deviance going on and there was stuff that he want her to do and that was really disturbing.
