"I think suspense is a big thing"
About this Quote
Suspense, in Gina Philips's plainspoken framing, isn't a fancy craft term so much as a survival tool. "I think" softens the claim, the way working actors often do when they're talking about story mechanics in public: it signals taste, not dogma. But the sentence still lands like a stake in the ground. In genre-heavy careers, especially for an actress known for projects where dread and pursuit do a lot of the heavy lifting, suspense is the engine that keeps the audience paying attention when dialogue, budget, or even logic might wobble. It's the one element that can elevate a scene from "watchable" to "can't look away."
The interesting subtext is how modest the line is. She doesn't say "suspense is hard" or "suspense is art". She calls it "a big thing", which reads like an insider's shorthand: the unglamorous, practical awareness that tension is currency. Suspense buys you patience. It buys you emotion before the emotion makes sense. It buys you relevance in a culture where viewers are trained to bail after 30 seconds of scrolling.
Contextually, this is also an actor talking about control. Directors cut, editors shape, writers structure; performers live in the moment. Naming suspense as central is a way of asserting what an actor can actually contribute: pacing through breath, hesitation, eye-line, the micro-delays that make us anticipate impact. It's a small sentence that reveals a big professional truth: audiences don't just want to see what happens. They want to feel time tighten around it.
The interesting subtext is how modest the line is. She doesn't say "suspense is hard" or "suspense is art". She calls it "a big thing", which reads like an insider's shorthand: the unglamorous, practical awareness that tension is currency. Suspense buys you patience. It buys you emotion before the emotion makes sense. It buys you relevance in a culture where viewers are trained to bail after 30 seconds of scrolling.
Contextually, this is also an actor talking about control. Directors cut, editors shape, writers structure; performers live in the moment. Naming suspense as central is a way of asserting what an actor can actually contribute: pacing through breath, hesitation, eye-line, the micro-delays that make us anticipate impact. It's a small sentence that reveals a big professional truth: audiences don't just want to see what happens. They want to feel time tighten around it.
Quote Details
| Topic | Movie |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Philips, Gina. (2026, January 15). I think suspense is a big thing. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-think-suspense-is-a-big-thing-91674/
Chicago Style
Philips, Gina. "I think suspense is a big thing." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-think-suspense-is-a-big-thing-91674/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I think suspense is a big thing." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-think-suspense-is-a-big-thing-91674/. Accessed 21 Feb. 2026.
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