“If you're sounding right, you're probably walking right, and vice versa. If you get the footwork right - if you get even one line right in a rehearsal, the director will say, do you know when you said that, it was exactly the character. You were - really landed on it.” IfsKnowsSaidCharacterLinesWalkingDirectorsVicesDo You KnowRehearsalVice VersaOne LineFootwork Author:Ian Mckellen
“Some directors don't tell you that it's not your fault, so you get increasingly depressed that you're not delivering what's required, and then you discover it's not you at all, it's something in the background that's out of focus.” FocusDirectorsFaultsBackgroundsDelivering Author:Ian Mckellen
“I think if I were asked to do as many as fifty takes, I would assume the director had no idea what he wanted, and was just hoping, eventually, to see it.” IfsThinkingIdeasWantedDirectorsAssumingNo IdeaFifty Author:Ian Mckellen
“You would be surprised how many directors don't know what they want. They might not know what they want until they see it, they might know what they want but no idea how to get it out of the actor, then you've both got a problem.” KnowsWantIdeasProblemMightWould BeActorsDirectorsNo IdeaWant U Author:Ian Mckellen
“There are directors, and I think this is true of all directors, it would be true if I was a director - If the actor didn't want to do what I was suggesting, I would let him do it his way, and then I would say to him, "Just give me one where you do what the director wants", and that, of course, is the take that's used.” IfsThinkingWayWantGivingWould BeUsedCoursesActorsDirectorsGive MeBeing TrueSuggesting Author:Ian Mckellen
“When you're on stage with an audience, the director's nowhere to be seen. He's onto the next job.” JobsNextAudienceStageDirectors Author:Ian Mckellen
“The performance is created by the director. The actor is the material. And I think that has to be true.” ThinkingActorsMaterialsDirectorsPerformancesBeing True Author:Ian Mckellen
“I'm not experienced enough, or certain enough of my acting on the screen to say to a director, "You are wrong, I am right. I will only do it this way." I could never feel that, I wish I could be absolutely certain. But on the stage, it's different. I know where I am on the stage.” KnowsWayFeelsDifferentEnoughCertainWishActingStageDirectorsScreens Author:Ian Mckellen
“In the theatre, the actor is in total control. The director wasn't in the house last night, the designer wasn't there, the author's dead. It's just us and the audience.” LastsNightActorsHouseAudienceDirectorsTheatreDesignerLast Night Author:Ian Mckellen
