Just like how male actors get to play varied characters, I would also like to play characters that people don't normally see female characters portraying on screen.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Especially in comedies, I think a lot of time the female characters are there to provide a balance for guys.
I just always want to play people. I don't want it to be necessarily that you relate to the character as female or male, but that you relate to them as a person. That's the driving force.
I've been playing with this idea in my mind that the hero's journey that we're all taught as screenwriters may resonate more specifically for male protagonists and maybe even male viewers.
I just want to keep writing characters who are interesting and complicated people and interesting roles for women, in TV or film or in theater. I think that's like my 'Blues Brothers' mission.
It used to be that you had to make female TV characters perfect so no one would be offended by your 'portrayal' of women. Even when I started out on 'The Office' eight years ago, we could write our male characters funny and flawed, but not the women. And now, thankfully, it's completely different.
As an actor, it's fun to play guys who aren't just locked into a male pattern, but a lot of guys you're asked to play are fairly macho and have a certain rigid standard they're living by.
What I really want to do is create great roles for women. And I'm not talking Nicholas Sparks romance. I think women's roles have gotten ghettoized in these sort of places... I'm thinking women in action, comic books, or like the Tony Soprano of women. We need some complex roles.
An actress can only play a woman. I'm an actor, I can play anything.
When I'm watching TV, I'm always drawn to those female characters who are doing something that I would want to do.
I have a hard time watching films and not thinking how I would play any part, whether it's a man or a woman.