“The script is a starting point, not a fixed highway. I must look through the camera to see if what I've written on the page is right or not. In the script, you describe imagined scenes, but it's all suspended in mid-air. Often, an actor viewed against a wall or a landscape, or seen through a window, is much more eloquent than the lines you've given him. So then you take out the lines. This happens often to me and I end up saying what I want with a movement or a gesture.” IfsWantLooksEndsHappensActorsGivenLinesWrittenAirMovementWallScenePagesWindowCamerasStartingScriptsLandscapeFixedGesturesHighwaysEloquentStarting PointSuspended Author:Michelangelo Antonioni
“I simply know what the actor's attitude should be and what he should say. He doesn't, because he can't see the relationship that begins to exist between his body and the other things in the scene.” KnowsShouldBodyActorsAttitudeScene Author:Michelangelo Antonioni
“If an actor tries to understand too much, he will act in an intellectual and unnatural manner.” IfsTryingActorsToo MuchIntellectualUnnatural Author:Michelangelo Antonioni
“It's obvious that I must explain what I want from an actor, but I don't want to discuss everything I ask him to do, because often my requests are completely instinctive and there are things I can't explain. It's like painting: You don't know why you use pink instead of blue. You simply feel that's how it should be - pink. Then the phone rings and you answer it. When you come back, you don't want pink anymore and you use blue - without knowing why. You can't help it; that's just the way it is.” KnowsWayWantFeelsShouldI CanHelpingUseActorsAsksAnswersKnowingPaintingBluePhonesObviousRingsRequest Author:Michelangelo Antonioni
“I want an actor to try to give me what I ask in the best and most exact way possible. He mustn't try to find out more, because then there's the danger that he'll become his own director.” WayWantGivingTryingActorsAsksDangerDirectorsGive Me Author:Michelangelo Antonioni
“It's only human and natural that an actor should see the film in terms of his own part, but I, as a director, have to see the film as a whole. He must therefore collaborate selflessly, totally.” ShouldHumansWholeFilmActorsTermNaturalDirectors Author:Michelangelo Antonioni
“Sometimes actors' mistakes give me ideas I can use, because mistakes are always sincere, absolutely sincere.” GivingI CanIdeasSometimesUseActorsMistakeGive MeSincere Author:Michelangelo Antonioni
“Method actors are absolutely terrible. They want to direct themselves, and it's a disaster.” WantActorsTerribleDirectMethodDisaster Author:Michelangelo Antonioni
“Actors are always a little high at work. Acting is their drug. So when you put the brakes on, they're naturally a little disappointed.” LittlesActorsActingDrugDisappointedBrake Author:Michelangelo Antonioni
“I've always played down the drama in my films. In my main scenes, there's never an opportunity for an actor to let go of everything he's got inside. I always try to tone down the acting, because my stories demand it, to the point where I might change a script so that an actor has no opportunity to come out well.” TryingWellsStoriesMightFilmActorsOpportunityActingDramaSceneDemandLetting GoScriptsTone Author:Michelangelo Antonioni
“You know what I would like to do: make a film with actors standing in empty space so that the spectator would have to imagine the background of the characters.” KnowsCharacterFilmActorsSpaceImagineStandingEmptyBackgroundsSurfingSpectatorsEmpty Space Author:Michelangelo Antonioni
“Till now I have never shot a scene without taking account of what stands behind the actors because the relationship between people and their surroundings is of prime importance.” PeopleActorsBehindsSceneShotsAccountsImportancePrimeSurroundings Author:Michelangelo Antonioni
