Directors tend to be more underrated than overrated because it’s a quiet job and people don’t really understand it.
One of the nice things about the world of filmmaking is that you make friends in the business. Sometimes directors feel a script needs something, but they’re not sure what it is, so they show it to a friend; if the friend is a writer, he ends up kicking around with that script for a while.
There are a few directors as a young person where I was kind of like, ‘Well, these are a sure bet.’ The Coens, Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson.
Casting directors tend to be the unsung heroes in this business.
You often hear this about directors, how it’s like having the best set of toys. This fabulous train set, the biggest box of toys that a kid could possibly have. The best directors look like a kid having more fun than you’re supposed to have.
I have found that so many directors and producers in the room say nothing, and this can be deadly. It’s very difficult to audition for comedy in the vacuum of a small room, but it’s the only way most do it.
I’ve worked with many directors, good ones and bad ones. So if I have a chance to work the good ones, I better put myself in their hands, and trust them, because that’s my big opportunity to be different, and to be better than usual.
There are loads of kids out there who haven’t got a clue what ‘Men Behaving Badly’ was; it was such a long time ago. So I’m able to spread my wings a little bit more. I was able to do it on stage over the years. Most directors and producers don’t know who I am these days, anyway!
I want to work with great directors and try not to put too much pressure on myself and just read things for the story and recognize when I’m drawn to something for the right reasons and try to maintain some sanity.
My interpretation of a strong director is someone who knows their story. That’s what directors are, they’re storytellers because they’re directing where your focus is going to be as an audience.
I know I don’t go looking for directors. I always wonder why they chose me.
I’m not in a position where I get to pick and choose roles. I usually go on auditions in long lines and embarrass myself in front of casting directors, and with a lump in my throat and my ears burning, I walk past reception and smirking actors as I go to the parking garage and go back on the highway.
If anyone has the opportunity to connect the dots and look at the directors I’ve worked with, from TV to film, there are some heavy hitters, from Taylor Hackford to John Singleton.
I never really planned a career. I’ve tried to avoid it. I’ve tried to do this stuff I felt for, the stuff I like. So, I’ve just been meeting these fantastic directors who’ve offered me a variation of different parts and different films.
There are a lot of female directors in documentary, very talented. But it’s always lower budget.
I don’t care about the size of the roles, or how they’re marketed or billed or anything like that. I would love to be a part of stories that tell us about where we’ve come from, where we are, where we’re going – with great directors.
A lot of times, directors don’t know how to speak to actors, or writers don’t know how to communicate.
When I think back on it, of course I got lucky and got great directors and good breaks but all that was the physical part. But what made me a star was that I could take a chance and not have anything to worry about in terms of losing.
For me, the most exciting thing is that Jane Campion is a woman we can all really look up to. She doesn’t have the body of work that some other directors do – no woman director does – but her work is so consistently original, wonderful, masterful.
But on this show, it’s a good question because in the 35 shows that we’ve done now, I’ve really made a consistent effort to really shadow the directors because in many ways they have to be more prepared than feature directors.
Look, a lot of directors were actors, even if they were unsuccessful actors which I think is helpful. I think it’s a really helpful thing for a director to have experienced that. It helps you know how to talk to actors and how to get what you need from them.
Stephen Daldry would be a director that I would love to work with as well as Peter Jackson, Tim Burton, and I’m very lucky to have worked with Isabel Coixet, who is also one of my favourite directors.
Friends who are directors like Jim Mangold or the Wachowskis or Zack Snyder – who, whether they know or not – have really left a mark on who I am as a director.
What’s weird is that I work with these directors and then I start channeling them. I kind of turn into them a bit – which is cool when you’re working with Clint Eastwood.
But I don’t really care for directors flaring up and trying to humble some actor, which they would do to try and make an example out of them so everybody else would stay on the ball – and David wasn’t anything like that.
I feel like actors, having spent a lot of time on movie sets, tend to make decent directors, because they’ve been there, they know what they’re doing, they’ve seen it done right, they’ve seen it done wrong, and they feel comfortable. There’s not a lot of chin-scratching and wondering what your next move is.
It’s nice, because after you’ve worked with various directors and producers enough times, they start to know your voice and what you’re capable of.
As a director, you never get to watch other directors work, and you also don’t get to collaborate with other directors that much.
The one thing about program television that’s absolutely incompatible with any concept of art is that all decisions have to be made by program directors, whereas art is autonomous. It may be dependent, but it knows no superiors.
The parameters are such that I don’t get offered a lot of work. I’m sure most directors hear my list of don’ts and say forget it.
We’ve heard the excuses from those responsible for hiring that they don’t want to take a chance on a new director. But the truth is that the industry hires new directors all the time; it’s just that most of them are white males.
You don’t get to see your family much. In the movie business, directors often go out of town for long periods of time, and even if you’re in town, you’re working 14-15 hour days. People tend to not balance out the important things in their lives with their career.
Now, I have big-money offers on three movies, and I have director approval. That’s kind of scary,’ he says. ‘No directors have been attached. That’s a lot of pressure on me.
Do you know what directors go through? It’s just hell. Like, why do I work so hard – to think I’m only going to see this movie five times and then never see it again ’cause I’m so sick of it? What is it worth, honestly?
I’ve always had a resting expression that either makes me look deep in thought or as though I’m about to fight you. I’ve lost count of the number of directors asking me what the problem is when all I’m doing is sitting still and being.
I’m thinking about directing, but I know it’s a lot of work and I appreciate what directors do and I would like to be good at it. The opportunity has presented itself four to five times, and I usually said no because of the script.
I have worked with a lot of really great women directors: Ana Kokkinos; Cate Shortland, who just recently directed a film called ‘Lore;’ another director, Rachel Perkins – she’s an Aboriginal director, and I’ve worked with her three times now, and she gave me my first film role, actually, back in 1997.
I’ve worked with a lot of great directors.
I don’t have a philosophy for choosing roles. Sometimes, it’s just, ‘This might be interesting; that might be fun to do.’ There might be interesting actors or directors in the project, even if the part is not important. And then sometimes, you need the money.
I prefer to work with first-time directors.
Music and language are a vital element. We, as actors and directors, offer it to people who want to experience it. Sometimes the actual meaning is less important than the words themselves.
There are American directors I’d really like to work with, but I don’t know how much I want to be sitting in my house, doing the rounds of meetings with CEOs. You have to be really hardworking to do all that, and I’m lazy.
Some directors hardly talk to the actors at all.
There were many, many other ‘Django’ films following mine, with other actors and directors, but there is only one ‘Django.’
I get to meet different directors and different people.
When a director narrates a character, I find it normal to ask questions about the character’s background, mood swings, eccentricities, behaviour… I do this to make my performance relatable. Directors who don’t know their characters well find it difficult to answer these questions and, hence, find me annoying.
I think the three Mexican directors – Alejandro Inarritu, Alfonso Cuaron, Guillermo del Toro – gave all of us foreign, and particularly Latino, directors a big break.
The ’80s were a time of technical wonder in filmmaking; unfortunately, some colleges didn’t integrate their film and theater departments – so you had actors who were afraid of the camera, and directors who couldn’t talk to the actors.
I’ve never directed anything before ‘Mad Men,’ so I don’t feel I have any advice for the other directors.
