But once we got on the air, everybody except Morey Amsterdam pretty much stuck to the script.
I was deliciously happy filming True Blood. I even kept all the scripts in my office, which I never do with any script. Although I did shred them all in one go when the series finished; it seemed like a ritual, somehow.
It's all about the script. Reality is key to me and less cutesy.
The truth is, there are probably eight more Snow White scripts floating around out there. And once one Snow White script got hot, other people started pulling out their Snow White scripts.
I know it's boring to say this but I always start with the script. I mean if it's well written and it's a character that I haven't necessarily played before.
I'm so touched that complete strangers will send me a script asking me to be in their film. That still amazes me - and sometimes for a lot of money too.
When you have great scripts, everything is very easy and fun.
I love travelling, and most scripts have been written while I have been travelling.
I'm an obsessive hiker and I do it every day for two hours and it really helps me when it comes to learning songs or scripts.
I ain't the first on the list that people are sending scripts to. I'm very lucky. I've managed to put myself in the position with some directors, yes, who will be calling me directly, and we're working on things and talking about things, but that's on a purely creative level. And then you go and have to deal with the financial level.
You don't want the white men to be written in a three-dimensional way but the black men, not. I mean, it's just about [how] scripts should always reflect real human beings. So that's what I look for.
If I want to kiss, I shall kiss. If I am told that a lovemaking scene is integral to the script, I will consider it.
I think there's a lack of really, really good funny scripts out there that work on all the levels that they're supposed to - which is to say that they're not just funny but they have interesting characters that people are going to like and be invested in. I've done a bunch of movies that haven't worked but I like to think I've done some that have worked and that's because not only is the comedy there but the characters and storylines are interesting. The characters are real and relateable and people were invested in them.
I mark a script like an exam, and I try not to do anything under 50 per cent. Similarly with the part. And also film is a peculiar thing, parts don't necessarily read in script form anything like as well as they can do when it comes to materialising.
I was happy when I read the script [The Bourne Ultimatum ] - the first version they sent me - to see that before, there's some humanity too.
Actors tend to not know how their performances are going to actually be used. Even though the script says one thing, in the edit, it can be something else.
Whenever I get a good script, I don't care whether it's telly or theatre or big screen - I'm not bothered.
I've had three novels published, and I was working a little bit in theater in Ireland. I wrote one film script just to see what it would turn out like.
You have the capacity to change the plotline of your life, even if you've been acting from the same script since before you can remember.
If I read a script and find it engaging and I start making choices in my mind on how to approach the work, than that's a good indication that it is something worth pursuing.