Dennis Haysbert Quotes

I played a little basketball, but basketball interfered with theater season. That's when we did our term plays and did nutshell versions of Shakespeare for English classes. And, believe me, I got a fair amount of looks from the guys on the team. 'You're in theater but you can play football?'

No matter what you set out to do and how you set out to do it, you ultimately have to be who you are, and who you are as that character. So, I paid as much homage as I could to what Michael Clarke did, and had to rely on my own gifts to guide me through it.

When you work on big commercial movies, of course there's more money involved and you can still do some good work. But with an independent, you get films that are really close to the writers' and directors' heart. Somehow it becomes a little deeper. A little more meat and not as much flash.

I knew that they were going to be reading actors for Manute, and I wanted to give it a shot. I wanted a shot to do it, and they embraced that and said, "All right, come on in. Let's see what you've got." So, I went in, and the rest is history. It felt good when I went into the office, and it just worked.

It's really quite an interesting dynamic. I wanted to play to the truth of who Manute was in the first film, while it's also a prequel and the originator [of the story]. It was an interesting dynamic to work with, definitely. I haven't seen the film yet, but the way it felt when I was doing it, it felt like it worked.

I would love a combination of action/adventure and ... love. And stories told with heart. I would like people to be invigorated as well as moved. People to see the movie and see that. I love to play, y'know, well-rounded characters.

I love emotion. I love being in love. And showing that on screen. I think it's wonderful.

Being on set and seeing all that green screen, and how it activated my imagination, was amazing to me. I fell into that world very easily, and it was incredible to be a part of.

There's part of it when Manute has both eyes. And the character was actually fleshed out a lot more, in this movie. I got to show people who Manute is and why he is and how devout he is. He is Ava's protector and punisher.

As far as I'm concerned, I'm the good guy. I'm doing my job. That's how I look at it. I don't look at it as good or evil. I look at it and say, "I have a job to do. I love this woman. I love the people that I work with. They take care of me. I'm going to do whatever I can for them."

I've studied theater since high school. Of course, it's a different story altogether being on Broadway, but it's still theater, and you have to be in front of a live audience, and that's very exciting. It's something I've definitely wanted to do, but I got involved in movies and television, and then it became a luxury to get back on the stage.

Realizing that my surroundings were going to be built around me, the way that I performed, we helped the directors through the performance, to create the world that we were going to be seen in. I was very fascinated with that.

It's the chauffeur's outfit from hell, right down to the alligator shoes. I was wearing these alligator shoes and this very interesting and haunting chauffeur's outfit, but what really did it for me was the hat. And then, when I eventually get my eye taken out, the gold eye really brought it home for me.

I took to it very quickly. I'm very imaginative anyway, and it just set off that part of my brain. It made me focus in on the actors a lot more. I didn't have the distraction of looking at my surroundings.

First of all, I never think of my characters as good or evil. I play them as honestly as I can. When you're playing a good character, you have an idea that you're playing the hero and the good guy.

I like to think I'm multi-faceted. Actually, my favorite roles are roles like in 'Far from Heaven.' Y'know. Soft people. Loving people.

Sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying or getting overly angry or to maintain control.