You want to make money, remake 'Cinderella.' You want to move people, remake the Hippolytus and Phaedra myth.
Mike NicholsRead
You love all your characters, even the ridiculous ones. You have to on some level; they're your weird creations in some kind of way. I don't even know how you approach the process of conceiving the characters if in a sense you hated them. It's just absurd.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the necessity of affection for one's creative work, including the unconventional aspects.
Joel Coen reflects on the relationship between a creator and their characters, suggesting that to truly engage in the creative process, one must have an appreciation for all aspects of their creations, even those that seem absurd or ridiculous. He implies that feelings of love or fondness for these characters are integral to the authenticity and richness of storytelling.
Themes
CreativityCharactersLoveArtStorytelling
In practice
Example use cases
An author might reference this quote during a writing workshop to encourage budding writers to embrace all parts of their characters.
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