“You don't get the pay-off when you're playing a quiet character, so sometimes you want to just throw out all your work and say, "Okay, let me do something really funny or gimmicky, just so that I can get some attention in this scene."” WantI CanSometimesCharacterPayAttentionSceneQuietOkayLet Me Author:Viola Davis
“I can be busy for three years and you may not even know what I'm busy doing because you only see me in a few scenes here or there, but I've been working my tail off because there's just not a lot.” KnowsYearsMayI CanThreeSceneBusyThree YearsTails Author:Viola Davis
“It was hard, that confrontation scene [in "Fences"], that was a hard one. I felt like it was relentless, I never felt like I could just drop the ball when the coverage was on him or anything else.” HardFeltSceneBallsFenceRelentlessConfrontationCoverage Author:Viola Davis
“For me, that was a hard scene [in "Fences"] to do twenty-something times, which (laughing), I counted. That was difficult, but once I did it, I felt like I could do anything.” HardFeltDifficultLaughingSceneTwentiesFenceTwenty Somethings Author:Viola Davis
“I would like to say something deeper, but for me, I saw a production of "Fences" in Rhode Island and a fabulous actress played Rose, but when she first came on the stage she was mad. You could just see it. She was all, "Troy stop!" So by the time you get to the revelation scene, I didn't think she loved him, so there was no loss. I think that the real tragedy and the real drama or the thing that makes you lean in is to see the love, to see the commitment. To see the fact that Rose is invested in this marriage no matter what.” ThinkingFirstsRealMatterFactsLossSawsStageDramaSceneCommitmentTragedyNo Matter WhatMadRoseProductionsDeeperActressesIslandsRevelationsFenceFabulousRhode Island Author:Viola Davis
“When you shoot a scene, you remember every moment. You remember when your head went down, your head went up. You don't see little quirks, little eye movements, little lip movements. Once again, you become completely vain when you're watching it in a way that you weren't when you were shooting it. And the vanity, what it makes you focus on are everything that has nothing to do with the scene and everything to do with your own ego.” WayLittlesMomentsEyeRememberFocusMovementSceneEgoLipsVanityShootingVainRemember WhenQuirks Author:Viola Davis
“Each character has their own challenges. The challenge to doing one scene is your whole history of who you are and your relationships, you only have this one shot.” WholeCharacterChallengesSceneShotsWho You AreOur Relationship Author:Viola Davis
“In film, it's up to the director to tell the story in whatever way he sees fit, and however you fit into that ultimate vision is where you fit in. So what you did on that stage, on that set, may not be what you ultimately see when you see the final product. And TV works so fast, it works so fast, it's just about product. The average TV show, one episode shoots eight, 10 days. That's it. You get three or four takes for a scene, and then it's over. But people do it for the money.” PeopleFilmVisionFitSceneUltimate Author:Viola Davis
“Sometimes you take a job for the money, sometimes you take it for the location, sometimes you take it for the script; there are just a number of reasons, and ultimately what you see is the whole landscape of it. But I can tell you from behind the scenes - that's what it is, as an actor.” I CanSometimesReasonWholeJobsActorsNumbersBehindsSceneScriptsLandscapeLocationBehind The Scenes Author:Viola Davis
