“In the old days when I first was coming up, you would turn up on set in the morning with your coffee, script, and hangover and you would figure out what you were going to do with the day and how you were going to play the scenes. You would rehearse and then invite the crew in to watch the actors go through the scenes. The actors would go away to makeup and costume and the director and the DP would work out how they were going to cover what the actors had just done.” FirstsDonePlayTurnsActorsWatchesMorningFiguresSceneDirectorsScriptsWork OutCoffeeMakeupGoing AwayInvitesCrewCostumesOld DaysHangover Author:Paul Bettany
“You'll still work with some directors where that doesn't happen, and sometimes it's out of necessity because you're in a really complicated, choreographed fight scene and the whole thing is being prevised in a computer, so it's been decided months before, but I think that's sneaking into the way action scenes are shot.” ThinkingWayStillsSometimesWholeHappensActionFightingMonthsSceneDirectorsComputerShotsDecidedComplicated Author:Paul Bettany
“I remember coming on my first set and it being a playground of things I wanted to ask questions about: cameras and lenses and what the lenses do, what's the focus puller doing and how does that work? Why is there less margin for error when there's less light? I was always asking questions and watching directors closely.” FirstsDoeLightWantedRememberAsksFocusDirectorsAskingCamerasErrorsLensesMarginsAsking QuestionsPlaygrounds Author:Paul Bettany
“I was always waiting for the secret to be handed down to me. Ron Howard asked me what I was waiting for and I went, "Ron, I'm waiting to know the secret. I keep feeling there's some sort of secret that's going to passed on from a director." He went, "Oh no. There is none. You've just got to on and do it and make mistakes and figure it out."” KnowsFeelingsWaitingSecretMistakeFiguresDirectorsMaking MistakesAlways Waiting Author:Paul Bettany
“I don't want to infantilize the actor; I want to empower the actor. Actors can be many things, but all of the really good ones are really great storytellers, and I'm interested in that. If you're not interested in that as a director then you better be Stanley Kurbrick.” IfsWantActorsDirectorsEmpoweringNot InterestedReally GreatStorytellerStanley Author:Paul Bettany
“I wanted to know as the director how the actors wanted to tell this story I wanted to know what they thought.” KnowsStoriesWantedActorsDirectors Author:Paul Bettany
