I apply the three gag rule, which is if I can read a script without gagging more than three times, then maybe I can say yes to this job.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
If the gag is complicated, you spend more time thinking about the way you're drawing it.
If somebody sent me a good script, I would do it, and I mean that, but it never happens. Not once. I can't even point to an exception.
I'd feel guilty just doing gags.
The fun stuff comes when someone is not so strict on sticking to the script. You're allowed the spontaneity, and great moments can happen.
I just have a belief that when there is a rare script out there that speaks to you, you have to stick with it. You have to.
I do not favor the gag order.
I never practice before, I never work hours on a script. I just choose my characters and trust them, and after that, it's about the director taking your hand.
My job is really to... everyone is reading the script, and my job is to make sure we all interpret it in as much the same way as possible. And then I give them the freedom to sort of - to get their performance across and then make suggestions where things are not working and accentuate and push things where they really are working.
Sometimes, you start with the drawing and then the gag comes to you in the middle of it. That is when you start working on the solution of the gag, which is composition, placing, equilibrium, and character design.
I've made it abundantly clear and I'll repeat yet again there's no question of gagging individuals.