You need to feel that the game is important to you. Lose that feeling and you lose your edge. There's no faking that kind of emotion. You can't invent the feeling. It's got to be natural, real.
The key research I usually apply that allows me to understand the roles that I take on, starts with the script in front of me, and what it offers. I try to absorb as much of it as I can, in the time that I have to study it, and I like to change things up, if I have a choice in the matter. . . and I usually don't. I dream on it, write about and find out who the individual is, and try to bring him to life with as much human and truth as I can.