If you work with big stars, then they become the lead actors. It's not that I don't want to do films with big stars, but I would rather do the films where I get the title roles.
I always look for reality. I look for plain truthful roles.
The choice of roles as I grow older gets more and more limited, so if I pin myself to one kind of part I would get in trouble. So, these oddball ladies came along for me to do - I guess Terry Gilliam helped in this respect. I have found them more interesting, flashier and I get more mileage out of them.
It's my job in Hollywood to find roles where I get to be a character not a bathing suit.
The big, defining feature of Palmares Tres government is its system of summer kings. The idea is that women 'Aunties' rule, led by a queen with a term limit of 10 years. Men aren't entirely shut out from this system - in fact, they have one of the most important roles in the government - but it's strictly delimited.
I've always been cast in authority roles; I think because I have that presence... Comedically, I can play against that pretty well. I enjoy playing that arrogant ignorance. That's one of my favorite games to play in comedy.
I so rarely turned down a role, that I can't say I have any regrets in that regard. There were many roles that I would rather not have done, but having a home and family requires that we sometimes do things we would rather not.
I wanted to do something new and different. People expected me to do negative roles. I wanted to break the norm, and because of that, I lost on some great work as well.
If you're looking at my other major science fiction roles - the Doctor on 'Star Trek' and certainly Woolsey on 'Stargate' - I often play characters that might be good theorists and good thinkers, but you wouldn't call either of them very macho characters.
I was offered, within one year, three different witch roles. It was almost like the world was saying - or the studios were saying - 'We don't know what to do with you.'
I don't condemn anyone for making their choices. If someone chooses those roles, fine. But not for me. When someone stops me and says, You're the reason I became an actress, that lets me know I made the right decision.
I am a friend when I need to be a friend, a father when I need to be a father, a musician when music calls. I switch roles accordingly.
I love doing comic roles and believe I am best at it.
I know actors who have had to turn down good roles because they just don't pay enough. It's hard.
I get criticized for taking roles in films like 'Ghost Rider 2', but if you look at my resume, dude, I've mixed it up as much as I can.
All I will say is that I'm playing a lot of different roles that, to be honest, are more interesting and demanding than any I've played before.
Dating, like almost every other male-female interaction in present-day society, is based on outmoded and unequal social roles and expectations.
I want to write my own stuff, and, you know, it would be nice to put myself in it. But I would like to hope that there are going to be better roles offered as well and that I don't need to do everything. You know, like, I appreciate my career being somewhat DIY, but it would be nice to get some help.
I have been presented with roles with demand not just a physical ability but mental disciplines as well. 'Memoirs of a Geisha' was not so much about physical exertion... it was much more graceful and contained than that.
It's weird when auditioning for roles, because a lot of my mates go out for the same roles. You don't want to know that you're beating someone to the role.
I have earned enough money in my life. When I started my career, for about 10 years, I told myself I want to make money. Now, I just want to do different roles.
I feel lucky that I've managed to get the roles I've wanted.
We still have to create things for African American women. Just like Tyler Perry is doing it, we can't wait for things to happen; you have to go and make and create roles and go to people.
I want to try and be as involved in the art of filmmaking as possible. I feel that the only way to really do that is to take on as many roles as possible, whether it be as an actor, an editor, a director, a cinematographer.
I was so irritated that people in Denmark considered me to be this serious guy who only did dramatic roles.
I love roles that don't really have a template or a paradigm and force me to create using my own imagination... that really, really turns me on.
You can't do anything to a film post its release. I concentrate on working hard, giving the required inputs for the roles, having discussions with my directors and co-stars. It isn't possible to predict the fate of any film. I don't take failures to heart and successes to my head. These are part and parcel of this career.
I love acting it's apart of me and I try to put a little bit of myself in each of my roles.
I'm at the transition place myself, still playing high school girls but moving to a stage when I'm playing older roles and going to the places of stillness and wisdom and knowledge and weight. It's exciting and scary.
I went to drama school in Paris and started doing theatre with a friend. Then I moved into movies and slowly but surely I got roles.
Studio heads seem to be getting the message that there is not only an audience out there, but there is a desire for people to see people of colour in central roles and in authoritative roles.
For nearly eight decades, I've had the great fortune of playing thousands of roles before millions of people.
Throughout my career, I wouldn't say my roles have been based on my being considered eye candy.
I guess I'm just good at playing repressed individuals. I'm lucky because those are often the roles that catch people's eyes.
Women in their 40s have gone through quite a few different things, and so the roles are going to reflect that. People say, 'Oh, it's done by 40,' and now everyone knows it's not. I actually feel like the roles are a lot more interesting.
All actresses give good performances, but everybody doesn't get the right roles.
