Daily Inspiration Quote by Dougray Scott

There is a quiet self-defense baked into Dougray Scott's line: a working actor insisting he’s also an audience member, not just a hired body on a call sheet. On its face, it’s modest - pick projects you’ll enjoy. Underneath, it’s a practical philosophy for surviving an industry where “good roles” and “smart career moves” are often slogans other people paste onto you.

Scott’s phrasing matters. “Try and do” signals limited control; actors audition, get recast, get cut, get boxed in. The quote admits the power imbalance without whining about it. And the double enjoyment - “watching” as well as “being in” - draws a line between two kinds of satisfaction: the on-set experience (collaboration, craft, the daily work) and the finished object that lives beyond you. Plenty of actors chase one and ignore the other: the prestige set that’s miserable to make, or the fun shoot that results in a film you can’t sit through. Scott’s ideal is alignment.

Contextually, it reads like the mindset of a performer who’s seen how quickly momentum can be rerouted by franchise politics, casting decisions, and timing. It’s less “follow your passion” than “protect your taste.” By anchoring choices in personal watchability, he’s claiming a small but meaningful form of authorship: if you have to live with a film forever, you might as well be able to enjoy it when the lights go down.