“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.” IfsKnowsFirstsI CanAsksDirectorsHollywoodAsk MeTarantinoHollywood Movies Author:Melanie Laurent
“I feel like a good director provokes you to ask questions about your character, but doesn't answer them for you.” FeelsCharacterAsksAnswersDirectorsProvokingGood Directors Author:Crystal Reed
“In choosing any role, I ask the same questions: what kind of part is it? is the role challenging? does the director have a vision? is the story moving? etc.” KindDoeStoriesMovingAsksChallengesVisionRolesDirectorsEtc Author:Lukas Haas
“It's a lucky circumstance when you get to usher in new work, because you are able to ask the playwright and the director (who in a new work is always in dialogue with the playwright) an unlimited amount of questions.” AbleAsksAmountCircumstancesLuckyDirectorsDialogueUnlimitedPlaywrightNew Work Author:Gideon Glick
“As an actor, it's always important to understand what the director is after. That, to me, is my job. When I'm acting, I like to ask a lot of questions and understand exactly why the director is doing what they're doing, so that I can provide him or her with the ingredients that they need to get the scene that they want. It's not to challenge them, in any way. It's just so that I can do my job best.” WayWantNeedsI CanImportantJobsActorsAsksCan DoChallengesActingSceneDirectorsIngredients Author:Joseph Gordon-Levitt
“The thing I absolutely hate is when directors don't know what they want, and then they ask you to do it this way, and then maybe that way, and maybe that way, because they haven't made up their minds what they want. So you're running around in circles trying to give them what they want.” KnowsWayWantGivingTryingMindMadeRunningHateAsksHavensDirectorsCircles Author:Diana Rigg
“I don't think I'd be a good director because people would ask me, you know, "What is it? What's going on here? Where should I put the camera?" Or, "What's my motivation?" And I would say, "Do whatever you want!"” PeopleThinkingKnowsWantShouldMotivationAsksDirectorsCamerasAsk MeShould IDo Whatever You WantGood Directors Author:Christopher Walken
“Why did Erich von Stronheim leave Germany? Why did Hitchcock leave England? If you were a director you'd like to work in Hollywood too. Now go ahead and ask me if I'm still Polish. You people keep asking me this question. You want Polish artists to make it in the world, but when they do, you accuse them of treason.” PeopleIfsWorldWantStillsArtistAsksDirectorsHollywoodEnglandAskingAsk MeGermanyPolishTreasonHitchcock Author:Roman Polanski
“One of the most, in a weird way, encouraging things a director can say to an actor - I know this as an actor - is when you ask them a question, they say, I don't know - 'cause it means there's some space there for you to find out. And it means that there's going to be a process.” KnowsWayMeanActorsAsksCausesProcessSpaceDirectors Author:Alan Rickman
“Any director, if you really ask them, will tell you that the toughest thing to do is like a dinner table or a dialogue scene because you need to keep that electricity maintained throughout the course of the film.” IfsNeedsFilmCoursesAsksSceneDirectorsTablesDinnerDialogueThings To DoElectricityDinner Table Author:Gary Ross
“When you play a character that is so emotionally closed there are times when you ask yourself if you are doing enough and if it's reading. That is where you have a director, who is the barometer of what you are doing.” IfsEnoughPlayCharacterReadingAsksDirectorsBarometer Author:Gary Oldman
“People often ask me if I feel discriminated against as a black female director. I don't. I'm actually offered a ton of stuff. But I only want to direct what I write. And I prefer to focus on black female characters. What's most important to me is to put characters up onscreen who are not perfect, but who are human and flawed.” PeopleIfsWantFeelsWritingHumansImportantCharacterAsksStuffBlackPerfectFocusDirectorsFemaleDirectAsk MeFlawedNot PerfectFemale Characters Author:Gina Prince-Bythewood
“There may be lots of questions that anybody - an actor or a director or anybody - can ask about a character in a play of mine that are not answered in the play, but if it's a question that I don't think is relevant, I don't bother about it. There's no reason to ask it.” IfsThinkingMayReasonPlayCharacterActorsAsksMinesDirectorsBotherNo ReasonRelevant Author:Edward Albee
“The first thing I say when people ask what's the difference [between doing TV and film], is that film has an ending and TV doesn't. When I write a film, all I think about is where the thing ends and how to get the audience there. And in television, it can't end. You need the audience to return the next week. It kind of shifts the drive of the story. But I find that more as a writer than as a director.” PeopleThinkingNeedsWritingFirstsKindEndsStoriesFilmNextAsksDifferencesAudienceWeekTelevisionTvsReturnDirectorsNext Week Author:Jason Reitman
“So, most of it was done over the phone. But one of the first things I did as a director, because it's one of the first things you should do, even though most don't, is to ask good actors who they think is right for the part. They know better than anybody. But without missing a beat Maggie said Pauline Collins. I didn't know Pauline because I hadn't seen Shirley Valentine, but then I saw this thing that she did with Woody Allen [You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger], in which she was wonderful as a psychic, and I said to her on the phone: "The dialogue seemed improvised."” ThinkingKnowsShouldFirstsSaidDoneActorsAsksDarkSawsWonderfulMissingDirectorsBeatsPhonesStrangerDialogueTallValentinePsychicsWoodyGood ActorsMaggie Author:Dustin Hoffman
“We're not allowed in the cutting room - and that's extraordinary. So, when a director is asking for certain nuances and colours and we feel that they're phoney, but we do it because the director asks for it, that's the one that they pick in the cutting room. And I contend that when you see a movie with bad acting, don't blame the actor... blame those guys in the cutting room because they like that take.” FeelsGuyCertainActorsAsksRoomsActingCuttingDirectorsPicksAskingBlameExtraordinaryColourNuanceBad Acting Author:Dustin Hoffman
“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 do listen to a lot of music. Actually, I very often ask directors if they can offer up a play list. They very often have one anyway that they're listening to.” IfsPlayAsksListeningOffersDirectorsLists Author:Dan Stevens
“I love acting. I think that's the best job in the world, but I don't really enjoy the career of it so much. You don't have as much control over your life or the material as you do, well, certainly when you're a director or a producer, so while I love acting, I prefer to make my living as a filmmaker, but my rule on acting is if somebody asks me to do a part, I'll do it.” IfsThinkingWorldWellsJobsAsksEnjoyActingCareersMaterialsDirectorsProducersAsk MeFilmmakerOver YouBest Job Author:David Hayter
“When people ask me if musical theatre should be taught in music colleges, I reply that there is no need. All anyone needs to study is the second act of La Boheme because it is the most tightly constructed piece of musical theatre that there is. It is practically director-proof: you can't stage it badly because it just works too well. If you can write La Boheme, you can write anything. I would also recommend studying Britten's Peter Grimes.” PeopleIfsNeedsShouldWritingWellsAsksStudyPiecesStageTaughtCollegeDirectorsMusicalTheatreProofAsk MePeterMusical TheatreGrime Author:Andrew Lloyd Webber
“Noah Baumbach does more takes than any director I've ever worked with. He runs a very quiet set and he runs a very hard working set. He has such an intense level of dedication to what's happening that he cultivates a group of people around him who have an equal level of dedication. Nobody asks, "When is lunch?" That's just not part of our sets. It's complete immersion. He has a 'no cell phone' rule. Nobody checks their cell phone. Nobody reads on set. It's like, "If you're there, you're there. If you're not on board with that, don't work on this movie."” PeopleIfsDoeHardRunningAsksLevelsGroupsHard WorkQuietDirectorsEqualHappeningsPhonesIntenseChecksCellsBoardsLunchDedicationCell PhoneImmersion Author:Greta Gerwig
“Here is how I work: when I think that a film needs to have a principal theme, I search for a melody. I have a very strange melodic gift: melodies come to me effortlessly. So I write melodies-thirty, forty, fifty-then I cast them off until I have just two or three. If only one is needed, I go see the director and ask him to decide. That happened one time with Jacques Demy for the duo of the twins [in Les demoiselles de Rochefort]: I went to his house in Noirmoutier to play 35 possible themes for him.” IfsThinkingNeedsWritingTwoPlayFilmThreeAsksHouseHappenedStrangeNeededDirectorsCastsThirtyThemeFiftyFortyMelodyOne TimeTwinsPrincipalDuos Author:Michel Legrand
“With actors and directors, it's a conversation that you have. You have to learn each other's language and learn how to communicate with each other effectively. It's really nice when you can have that communication on a level where they walk up to you and you can see by the expression on their face what they want. You don't even have to talk, it just like, "Got it!" And, you know what they want before they even ask for it.” KnowsWantFacesActorsAsksLanguageWalksLevelsNiceExpressionCommunicationDirectorsConversationCommunicateUp To YouReally Nice Author:Ashton Kutcher
“Approaching a comedy character is fun because you get to sit down with the director and ask, "What makes you laugh?" Then you end up bouncing ideas off each other.” IdeasEndsCharacterAsksFunLaughingComedyDirectorsMake You Laugh Author:Matthew Lewis
“Alejandro Amenabar is a different kind of director than I lot of the directors I've asked for. He really asks you to enter his dream as opposed to, you know, a guy like Sidney Lumet or something is going to ask you to create a character almost like a documentary. He wants you to make the people really real and he's going to capture it like a documentarian.” PeopleKnowsWantKindDifferentRealCharacterDreamGuyAsksDirectorsCaptureDifferent KindsDocumentaries Author:Ethan Hawke
“The best directors I've worked with, they all have the same thing in common. They're the first to say, 'I don't know.' If you ask them, 'How are we actually pulling off this movie?', they'll just shrug and go, 'I have absolutely no idea.'” IfsKnowsFirstsIdeasAsksCommonDirectorsNo IdeaPulling Author:Ryan Reynolds