I took the role because it's rare to read a script that makes me laugh and cry, and it spoke to my own religious feelings, as well as giving me a chance to draw on my experience as a parent. Accepting it was a no-brainer.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
For me, my first hearing of the script matters. It has to excite me as an actor and as an audience.
The first thing, when I read the script, is that I need to care about what happens and feel compelled by the story and engaged by the characters. It needs to resonate with me, even if what the characters are going through is not something that I have experienced in my life. I have to feel like it has some sort of meaning to me.
I don't want to work just for the sake of working. Generally, if a good script comes in, I read it, and if it appeals to me, it appeals to me. And it doesn't have to be anything - it doesn't have to be the main character; it doesn't have to be a huge part.
I read a script and I know immediately whether that role is for me or not.
The script was just the best I'd read in a long time and I love the humor, which I wasn't expecting, and I like the fact that my six year old daughter can see the show without being, you know, protected from it.
Even as an actor, I think like a storyteller. My parents raised us to look at the script.
I think I've had pretty good experiences for the most part with the people who have directed my screenplays.
Once, I optioned a novel and tried to do a screenplay on it, which was great fun, but I was too respectful. I was only 100 pages into the novel and I had about 90 pages of movie script going. I realized I had a lot to learn.
I'm the only one responsible for the choices I make and the opportunities I get. When you read the script, you don't know how it's going to shape up. You just know what you've been narrated.
It was my first straight dramatic role, and the most adult, intelligent one I have ever played.