I’d said no to directing ‘Snowtown’ a few times and was quite scared of it, but I saw a story there that was worth telling.
I always think that the deal, once I do the script, sort of the experience I go through writing, which is everything you can imagine, but I always think it’s the one thing I can do when I’m directing is say is that it’s all about the actors, that I can say, ‘We’re all here to serve the actors.’
I know that when I’m writing, I always want to be directing.
The biggest challenge directing the final season of ‘Game of Thrones’ is just the importance of getting it right.
I enjoyed Jonathan Franzen’s ‘Freedom.’ Would I make that into a film? I think it’s better suited to television. That would very much be a dialogue and performance piece, and it would take some very skilful direction – but not my kind of directing. But I thought it was a real literary work.
I just don’t see where I could possibly fit in directing a feature.
Nucleic acids are the main information-carrying molecules of the cell, and, by directing the process of protein synthesis, they determine the inherited characteristics of every living thing. The two main classes of nucleic acids are deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA).
Sidney Poitier was directing a film called ‘Hanky Panky.’ And he said, ‘Do you want to come with me to New York to see Gilda Radner in ‘Lunch Hour’ on Broadway? I said, ‘I don’t need to see her, I love her. I’ve wanted to write something for her for a long time. So it’s OK by me.’
I was never interested in becoming an actor. I was directing videos. I was never into acting. I was into shooting music videos. I’ve only ever been behind the camera. Never in front of it.
When I started producing, it was George Abbott directing and he would let me do the scenery. He just wanted to know where the doors were – the entrances, the exits; the tables, the props – and then I would hire the designer. I took charge of the visuals – scenery and costumes and so on. And, the shows looked wonderful.
Directing can be very lonely and quite intimidating.
Directing the television serial, ‘Thoda Sa Aasman,’ was a good learning experience and I can empathize better with producers.
I only did ‘Thor’ because it was Kenneth Branagh directing, but I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would.
I don’t think I’m great at acting. I think I’m great at directing.
I don’t see myself doing television, but I do see myself directing.
I had taken a bit of a sabbatical because I was producing and directing films. But acting has always been my passion and it is something that I will continue to do.
There’s people who live life authentically and there’s people who live a life of fabrication. And it begins with the question of how you’re gonna do your time. And these are observations I made about Folsom when I was there with Dustin Hoffman when he was directing ‘Straight Time.’
I prefer directing to acting. There is huge freedom that comes from being behind the camera. It brings a lot of responsibilities as well but is intensely rewarding.
The things that I’m interested in directing are fiction, because then you’re not married to a particular reality.
When you’re a comic doing a special, it’s like you’re directing your first movie.
It was so weird that I would end up directing ‘The Greatest Game Ever Played,’ because, y’know, I’m not a big golfer myself. But I grew up around the game. My mom and dad kind of built their dream house off the 11th fairway of Shady Oaks Country Club in Fort Worth.
I know that John Adams has had a very hard time directing French ensembles.
I’ve been playing the Wolfenstein games since I was a kid, and feel that their outlandish sensibility has deeply influenced my own writing and directing throughout my career.
Directing a film is a lot of physical work.
As far as writing and directing, I’m very focused on the thriller genre.
I don’t see myself directing the same movie twice.
But at a certain point, and I don’t really know… people have asked me this. I don’t know exactly what it was that pushed me towards directing, but I think it was a naive notion that if I directed I would be able to play all the roles. A kind of greed.
I love directing – it’s always so involving, so challenging.
I think I was never home when I was directing, because you’re either prepping, shooting, or editing, and then acting at the same time. It’s really time-consuming, but it was great fun.
It is not easy acting and directing yourself because you have to face the camera as well as look at the scene through the lens.
I’ve acted just to get to directing.
One of the many delights that I found in directing was that you plan so many things so meticulously so that they go smoothly. But you also have to leave time and space for spontaneous emotional moments to arise.
The things I want to focus on are music, writing, directing, and developing stuff.
As an actor, if you want to while shooting, you can run back to your trailer and take a nap. But you cannot do that while directing.
I was never interested in acting on film or in television, but I was always more inclined to writing and directing, and the exploration of character.
I can’t sit on my bum very long in a movie theater seat, and when I’m directing, I always want to move the camera or edit.
What happens on ‘Mad Men’ in terms of the acting and the writing and the directing, it’s superior. And yes, it has tremendous cache and buzz because it’s become iconic, but it also deserves all the kudos and the awards as well, because it’s a beautiful show to look at.
Directing is very close to choreography; you deal with space, time, emotions, lighting, making beautiful images.
I came from a background of directing behind-the-scenes documentaries.
I stopped directing in 2001 for four or five years, until I did the TV series ‘Masters Of Horror.’ I had been working steadily as a director since 1970. That’s a long time. I was burned out.
Oddly, in a sense, I still have more confidence as a director than my ability as a writer. Somehow, directing is just really easy. It’s just about being really honest about how you feel about what you’re seeing.
It was strange initially to be directing Winona Ryder. Of course it was.
I use something that is a real staple in the directing world. It’s called a dance floor. You lay it down so that it’s so smooth you can roll around, and you can put furniture on top of it. It’s seamless and you don’t see it.
I don’t see a big difference between the job of directing a low-budget movie and the job of directing a big-budget movie.
One of the things I’ve learned from animation is that some guys are really good at writing, some guys are really good at design, some guys are really good at directing. It’s almost like working in a band – not everybody plays every instrument.
There’s no doubt in the world that directing makes you a better actor. Me, anyway. There’s no doubt in the world that it makes me a more collaborative actor.
I learn a new thing every single day about acting, about directing, about producing.
Neil Mahoney was definitely the visionary in taking ‘Freak Dance’ from stage to screen. He made it more cinematic. He brought the choreography, all the ways to shoot that. I was more the director of actors. I was in front of the camera directing, and he was behind the camera directing.
If being an attractive woman got you attention for directing, then the entire ‘best director’ category would be comprised of models. To me, that is just the most ludicrous connection that you could make.
I went to New York City to Columbia University, and with the first directing exercise, I knew I was a director.
Directing ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ has been an intense and incredible journey for which I am hugely grateful. I have Universal to thank for that.
I haven’t directed a film since ‘Appaloosa,’ and I’ve been looking for something because I love the directing thing.
Whatever I do – whether it’s directing, producing – I just come at things from characters, from stories, from jokes and scene rhythms. I’ll always have that at the epicenter, I think.
What you’re seeing with Occupy Wall Street and the others are people who are unhappy and they’re directing their unhappiness now toward Wall Street and toward those they think are doing too well in our society.
I stopped working a few years ago because I just lost a spark that I’d had before. I thought I’d just try writing, and maybe start directing, but I did it very quietly.
There should be more women directing; I think there’s just not the awareness that it’s really possible.
The biggest edge I live on is directing. That’s the most scary, dangerous thing you can do in your life.
Directing is much more satisfying to me than acting.
It’s a tremendous asset if you have a visual eye because you can make huge visual statements in a very theatrical way and play to the strength of theatre. But the high end of directing is working with actors and making the acting the best it can be.
I grew up on Long Island, and from as early as I can remember, as far back as first grade, I had two real passions – one of them was putting on plays, and the other was journalism. I was directing plays and editing school papers from first grade on, all the way through college.
