The directors you trust the most are the ones, when you ask them a question, they’ve got the guts to say, ‘I don’t know.’
Everybody just asks me ‘Are you going to make Hollywood movies now?’ First, I don’t know. Second, I never dreamed about that; I just dreamed about making movies with Tarantino. So if I can make movies with a lot of amazing directors – yes.
I think the perspective that small-town directors bring to films is very different.
It’s directors’ choice if they want to work with me. Not mine.
They call David O. Russell the actor whisperer because he can get stuff out of actors that maybe some other directors can’t.
Many of the museum directors who make an impact personally curate exhibitions.
I was, in my day, one of the best directors of episodic TV around.
It’s not the ideal situation to have two directors. It’s just not the ideal thing.
And I just want to work with good directors and good people.
I’ve been in so many bad movies and worked with so many bad directors that I go into a film expecting nothing.
I’ve now been doing this for ten years, and I actually got to skip a stage of going to casting directors, and now I meet with the directors, either for lunch or an audition room, and I still read sides; you’re never going to get around that, but I’m not the best person to go on an audition.
I love improv. ‘Crazy, Stupid, Love,’ the script was really great, but the directors were open to letting you try different things. And that felt like a muscle I hadn’t exercised in a really long time.
Sometimes directors will hire you and say, ‘Oh, we love your work.’ And then they start to tell you how to do it. I say, ‘Hey, man, back off. You hired me to do it. Let me do it.’
Directors have so much else to do besides tell actors what to do. There are so many issues and problems.
Producers and directors think they have the power, but what they think of as the weakest link, the actor, is all-powerful.
I feel that directors at times are like the janitors on the set. I am the secretary, I am the organizer, I am the maid, and I ask if they have eaten or rested. The best things are always out of your control. It’s those moments that surpass the imagination that are thrilling.
I find that all great directors, and I would include Ben Affleck and Clint Eastwood in that, they have great confidence. And with great confidence comes great freedom for the actor.
All directors are control freaks and very obsessive. I get the feeling that directors as kids, they all have had a childhood with not too much contact with other kids. They constructed their own reality and they continue to do it. It’s a funny breed, directors.
I am open to working with new directors as long as the script excites me.
He sort of gets comic moments. Not a lot of directors do.
I think theatre helped, only because it was acting experience. I got to work with a lot of directors.
I came across awful characters when I got some kind of status and came to Hollywood. Then you have directors trying to sleep with you, assuming that you will do things because of the way you dress.
The things that I’ve enjoyed most are not really science fiction. They are not much fun to make because there are so many toys involved. They are fun for directors who like toys, like Ridley Scott, but they are not a lot of fun to make. A lot of hanging around, changing this and that.
I am always open to working with debutant directors, as they bring a new perspective to a script. That motivates me and helps me choose unique scripts.
But a lot of that kind of work is done pre-flight, coordinating efforts with the flight directors and the ground teams, and figuring out how you’re going to operate together.
I think directors can become overly infatuated by gilt and gold, and the word ‘lavish’ and everything being magnificent.
There are two qualities that I’ve noticed in good directors: One is that they have their vision very strongly in place; and two is that they listen to everyone’s opinion and still remember their vision.
I can remember getting rejected systematically by casting directors as a young kid. I felt like the biggest outsider there ever was; that I’d never belong in that club.
Movies, I don’t really get the bad guys. In theater, I get more bad guys. Both audiences and directors are more willing… to allow people to stretch. In movies, you do one thing, and then that’s their reference.
I’m communicating with the directors of the Soviet companies, and I see that it is wrong, but when I go to the official discussions, they discuss we should change the color of the walls.
I’m actually one who will encourage directors to cut my lines.
I worked for a lot of directors.
I tell people all the time that producers, writers, and directors really don’t know what they want until it walks into the room – you have to show them what they want. Everyone is rooting for you when you walk into the room. Everyone wants you to be good because it means their day is over!
I’m a student. I want to do better, and I want directors who can find the actress in me and be my teachers. I’m interested in the whole process of editing, post-production and direction.
With TV, the pace is so fast, the scripts are coming at you, the directors are firing things at you, it’s breathtaking.
A lot of directors don’t know what they want to do. Every director I’ve seen that was a good director that I’ve admired knew exactly what he wanted to do. They didn’t sit there and think about it.
Because of ‘The Birds’ and ‘Marnie’ I was, as the expression goes, hot in Hollywood and producers and directors wanted to hire me.
It is universally agreed that Jean Renoir was one of the greatest of all directors, and he was also one of the warmest and most entertaining.
I’ve been lucky enough to work with some great directors, and I don’t want to throw that away by doing one big horrible big budget film.
I guess maybe directors see a face that seems to have been lived in. I know that my face has been lived in, yeah.
A lot of directors are great and they are fine but you know I think that Harry really takes a special point to really engage the actors and really make it feel like a safe place for them to explore whatever it is they want to explore in whatever scene with their character.
I was fortunate enough to work under directors who were, most of them, brilliant, emotional men.
I think that what ‘Oz’ did is it spawned a great generation of television production. But people know its place in television and just in great dramas. It’s the foundation of my career. Most producers, show runners, directors, and casting directors put me in movies based on my performance in that show.
I think it’s very important to recognize talent in all facets of filmmaking. Making a movie is such a lengthy and intense experience, so it’s wonderful to honour actors, directors, producers and all crew members who put so much hard work and passion into a project.
Different directors offer you different things, and it’s not necessarily the most obvious things.
I went to meet Joe Johnston, the director, and he’s charming. I’ve been very lucky. Most of the directors I’ve worked with are charming. But Joe’s a particularly charming man, and he showed me lots of designs and, rather memorably, welcomed me to the Marvel Universe.
Bad directors are the ones who want to tell you every move, and think they’re a better actor than you.
I love the pictures of Old Hollywood, seeing the directors dressed in suits and ties. Even the grips would be wearing ties. But the biggest thing is when I was a kid, I couldn’t wait to be an adult, and I think what happens with most guys is that no one wants to be an adult anymore. So they’re dressing like kids.
To anyone in the position to hire women directors: Make the commitment.
I’ve always believed that the director does whatever the hell he wants. That’s what you sign on for as an actor – I can’t stand it when you have actors who are trying to leverage directors into doing things they don’t want to do.
I reached a point where I’d watched enough directors do the job that I felt I understood it. And it’s not that I’m a slow learner and it took me this long; I also was enjoying writing, and I still enjoy writing – I get tremendous satisfaction out of the writing end of it.
Cultivating a strong group of personal directors takes time and commitment. For me, it took more than 10 years to find a diverse group that could give me sage advice when I needed it most.
The best thing an actor can be is flexible, because all directors are different and all actors are different.
Many people worked hard in order to create ‘Crash Landing on You.’ I am grateful to the writer, the directors, and all the production staff.
Some directors were brilliant in the silent era but never felt at home in sound. It’s like a sculptor being forced to take up painting.
So I’ve had really great assistant directors for my last seven movies.
Directors are denied a great pleasure, which is that of being on stage.
First time films are hard. Even with some of the greatest directors, you look back at their first film, and you are just going, ‘That movie is kind of bad.’
Facts are, directors are not thinking of me; they think I only act in my films, because they’re stupid. Or they think I’m a control freak, that I will try to, I don’t know, pimp their scripts and just change everything, which I will never do.
