“I've learned from every director I've worked with. Everybody's style is very different, and I always say that being an actor is the best film school that I could ever go to.” DifferentSchoolFilmActorsStyleDirectorsI've LearnedFilm SchoolBest Film Author:Lake Bell
“You have to have a thick enough skin to cope with the criticism. I'm very self-critical and I have a lot of friends that I trust who are film directors and writers and people in my profession.” PeopleSelfEnoughFilmDirectorsCriticismSkinsCriticalProfessionThickLots Of FriendsFilm Directors Author:George Lucas
“When I work on a film, you know, I try to get or inhabit the body of the character -from the vision of the directors or how i think the character should be - so if it's a film like SPEED, you hit the gym, you get to do some, train with SWAT People, hehe, but in general, I'm really focused and dedicated, and then in regular life, I don't go to the gym as often.” PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsShouldTryingCharacterBodyFilmVisionDirectorsTrainFocusedSpeedGymDedicated Author:Keanu Reeves
“Every time I make an American film I just trust the American director and American writer. Myself, I would never make this kind of film. For me, those kinds of films are ridiculous. They don't make sense.” KindFilmDirectorsRidiculousMake SenseAmerican WriterAmerican Film Author:Jackie Chan
“I have done films where we all thought the director didn't know what he was doing and it is going to be a gobble gobble turkey. And you go and watch it and it is great.” KnowsDoneFilmWatchesDirectorsTurkeys Author:Kevin Spacey
“Any advice I could give to female directors would be the same as for males: There will be endless difficulties, some seemingly defeating, on your way. That's a given. Just wipe out the very notion of stress. Concentrate on your actors. Obsess about your story and the world it is anchored in. Deal with the hundreds of down-to-earth issues [around] the existence of your film. At some point, everything will be ripe. And you wouldn't be able to stop your film from coming to life even if you wanted to.” IfsWorldWayGivingStoriesWould BeAbleWantedEarthFilmActorsGivenDealsExistenceIssuesAdviceDirectorsFemaleDifficultyStressMalesNotionEndlessWipeRipeDown To Earth Author:Deniz Gamze Erguven
“I'm more prone to anarchy than I am to control - even though I'm a film director.” FilmDirectorsAnarchyFilm Directors Author:Terry Gilliam
“You have to be strong to be a carpenter, maybe, but the director of a film doesn't need to have muscles.” NeedsFilmStrongDirectorsMusclesCarpenter Author:Agnes Varda
“When I started my first film, there were three women directors in France. Their films were OK, but I was different. It's like when you start to jump and you put the pole very high - you have to jump very high. I thought, I have to use cinema as a language.” FirstsDifferentUseFilmThreeLanguageDirectorsFranceCinema Author:Agnes Varda
“As the cinematographer is usually more visual than the director is and full cooperation is really the answer and to make a great film, you need a good director and you need a good cinematographer.” NeedsFilmAnswersDirectorsVisualsCooperationGreat FilmGood DirectorsCinematographers Author:Vilmos Zsigmond
“I think the two jobs I dreamed of doing as a teenager were comic book artist and record cover illustrator. Maybe film director was in the mix as well, but that seemed to be an impossible mountain to climb.” ThinkingWellsTwoBookJobsFilmArtistRecordsImpossibleDirectorsMountainComicTeenagerClimbsComic BookFilm DirectorsIllustratorsTwo Jobs Author:Dave McKean
“I thought all I had to do was to buy a camera and become a film director. So when I left school I worked at a telephone company, which gave me the money to buy the basic equipment including the camera, the projector and the screen.” SchoolFilmLeftCompanyDirectorsCamerasIncludingScreensEquipmentTelephonesFilm DirectorsProjectors Author:Jean-Pierre Jeunet
“In comics, the writer is also the director in a certain way. So if this were a film, you wouldn't tell the cinematographer to make a good fight scene while you go and get a cup of coffee.” IfsWayFilmCertainFightingSceneDirectorsCoffeeCupsCoffee CupGood FightCinematographers Author:Max Bemis
“I'd made pretty clear to the people at Paramount and Dreamworks that, if they wanted Lemony Snicket to comment, he would be completely horrified by the entire film. And as long as they understood that, it was okay. I'm not much of a fan of DVD commentaries myself, so this was my way of getting revenge, in a sense, for all the puffed-up directors and stars who talk endlessly about the self-aggrandizing minutiae of making a movie.” PeopleIfsWayLongMadeSelfWould BeWantedFilmStarsClearFansDirectorsUnderstoodOkayRevengeMy WayCommentCommentaryDvdsParamountMinutiaeSnicketDreamworksGetting Revenge Author:Daniel Handler
“I don't think film is the writer's medium, and so I was interested to see what a director would do with it.” ThinkingFilmDirectorsMediums Author:Daniel Handler
“Three directors whose work directly influences mine are Paul Thomas Anderson, Darren Aronofsky and Susanne Bier (her Danish films). You'll notice that they all don't make feel good movies, same as me, and their films are always visually simple but beautiful (and I hope mine are!).” FeelsBeautifulFilmThreeSimpleInfluenceMinesDirectorsFeel GoodGood MovieDanishDarren Author:Chika Anadu
“In Korea is what I do is I watch the playback of each take with all of the actors and spend a lot of time discussing each take. Also, I use the process we call auto-assembly because I storyboard my entire film right at the beginning, even before pre-production ever begins, so my vision is already laid out on the storyboard for everybody to share. It enables the on-set assembly person, as we call them, to cut together each take into a sequence. This enables a director to review the take within the context of the sequence of the scene.” PersonsUseTogetherFilmActorsProcessVisionWatchesCuttingShareSceneDirectorsProductionsReviewsSequenceKoreaAssemblyDiscussing Author:Park Chan-wook
“I take bits and pieces from every director. I'd say Sylvain [White] and Nimrod [Antal]. They were more about teaching me lens sizes and depth of field and how to move the camera and lighting. I do want to direct and I didn't go to film school, so having a director that are very much hands on that way and looking to let me learn, that is a key factor.” WayWantHandsSchoolFilmMovingBitsWhitePiecesTeachingFieldsKeysDirectorsDirectLet MeCamerasDepthSizeFactorsLensesLightingFilm SchoolBits And PiecesDepth Of Field Author:Columbus Short
“It's always fun to get to do independent film because I believe that that's the life blood of film. It's about writers and directors who truly have their own vision, and that's hard.” BelieveHardFilmFunI BelieveVisionBloodDirectorsIndependentIndependent Film Author:Steve Buscemi
“I'm pretty happy with who I am. I like myself and what I'm doing. I don't need to be the world's greatest director or the most famous -- or the richest. I don't need to make a whole lot of great films. I can do my job and I can do it pretty well. This is the realization I've come to, later in life. It's called growing up.” WorldNeedsWellsI CanWholeJobsFilmCan DoGrowing UpGrowingDirectorsWho I AmRealizationI Can Do ItGreat FilmLater In Life Author:John Carpenter
“When somebody who makes movies for a living - either as an actor, writer, producer or director - lives to be a certain age, you have to admire them. It is an act of courage to make a film - a courage for which you are not prepared in the rest of life. It is very hard and very destructive. But we do it because we love it.” HardAgeFilmCertainActorsDirectorsPreparedAdmireProducersDestructiveActs Of CourageRest Of Life Author:John Carpenter
“Film buffs who don't live in Hollywood have a fantasy about what it's like to be a director. Movies and the people who make movies have such glamour associated with them. But the truth is, it's not like that. It's very different. It's hard work.” PeopleDifferentHardFilmFantasyHard WorkTruth IsDirectorsHollywoodGlamour Author:John Carpenter
“Film is shot in fragments, and the same moments can be shot again and again until the director is satisfied.” MomentsFilmDirectorsShotsSatisfiedAgain And AgainFragments Author:Bruce Beresford
“People have asked me throughout the years which directors have influenced me. I don't know their names, because I was mostly influenced when I'd see a film and think, "Man, I want to be sure to never do anything like that." So I never learned their names. It wasn't a matter of copying or emulating somebody I admired. It was getting rid of a lot of stuff.” PeopleThinkingKnowsMenWantYearsMatterFilmNamesStuffDirectorsCopying Author:Robert Altman
“You will never see'Altman's Great Film of the Seventies: The Director's Cut' because you have never seen a film of mine that wasn't the director's cut. I have never permitted it.” FilmCuttingMinesDirectorsSeventiesGreat Film Author:Robert Altman
“I think a lot of good directors listen to music while they're working. The songs just don't become a part of the film. They're replaced.” ThinkingFilmSongDirectorsReplacedListening To MusicGood Directors Author:Ben Folds
“I'm pretty much a character-driven film director and my movies are smaller. I don't do a lot of coverage. I use lots of master shots.” CharacterUseFilmMastersDirectorsShotsDrivenCoverageFilm Directors Author:Stanley Tucci
“As a film director I like to have the actors create their own close-ups. It's an older style of filmmaking.” FilmActorsStyleDirectorsFilmmakingFilm Directors Author:Stanley Tucci
“I love films. I love fiction films, too. I do. I love making them, but it has to be the right one. Hopefully, I'll never become a director for hire. It's horrible to make a film that you're not really interested in.” FilmFictionDirectorsHorribleHopefullyLove MakingLove Films Author:Oliver Stone
“I don't usually see what I've done. I don't often watch the film or watch the show. It's really about that experience on-set and within the scene. Because later, when the film comes out or the show comes out it's the editor's realm or the director's realm. But that moment on set, that's that electricity between me and another actor, and that's really what excites me.” DoneMomentsShowsFilmActorsWatchesSceneDirectorsRealmsThat MomentEditorsElectricity Author:Jennifer Beals
“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
“Most of the time I've worked with directors who write their own scripts. The story is more important to me than the part. The project of the film has always been more important to me.” WritingImportantStoriesFilmDirectorsProjectsScripts Author:Catherine Deneuve
“I'm a producer, writer, director. I'm putting everything together very fast, and I'm strong and focused on making the next film as fast as possible. From one film to the other, I'm getting better. I'm learning - that's my style.” TogetherFilmNextStrongStyleDirectorsFocusedProducersGet Better Author:Malgorzata Szumowska
“Working in film, if you work with great directors, you learn that after every take you must let go. Sitting with my wife at the Academy Awards, we both let the moment just go.” IfsMomentsFilmWifeDirectorsLetting GoSittingMy WifeAwardsAcademyAcademy Awards Author:Ben Kingsley
“I think the dictator director is based upon stories from the past. I don't think anyone would put up with it now. There are a lot of people on a film set with egos. So, to be completely authoritarian, you'd probably have to have a reputation like Kurosowa or somebody to get away with it.” PeopleThinkingStoriesPastFilmDirectorsEgoReputationGet AwayDictatorFilm Set Author:Colin Firth
“There's no point in it unless it's a story that you really want to tell. It's a nebulous job. Unless you're doing it well, you're not doing anything. And there are a few of those. It's perfectly possible to be a passenger on a film set because if somebody else has written it, you can make nothing of that role and that's exactly what bad directors do.” IfsWantWellsStoriesJobsFilmRolesWrittenDirectorsNo PointPassengersFilm Set Author:Colin Firth
“There's a paraphrase about Orson Welles saying: "Great films are made by great directors and the rest are made by everyone else." I've been very lucky... before I start insulting the profession of directing, but I think a good director is everything and a bad director really is nothing at all.” ThinkingMadeFilmLuckyDirectorsProfessionPhrasesInsultingGreat FilmGood Directors Author:Colin Firth
“I think I've grown up in an era where character acting on film has become less desirable for the producers and directors and therefore the audience. They have got used to the people that those actors really are.” PeopleThinkingCharacterFilmUsedActorsActingAudienceDirectorsProducersErasDesirable Author:David Suchet
“If I am creating the shots from scratch I may have to spend more time holding the directors hand and therefore have less time to finesse the shot or the lighting etc. but it really all depends on the project. Some films benefit from their spontaneity.” IfsMayHandsFilmDependsDirectorsBenefitsProjectsCreatingShotsEtcMore TimeScratchesSpontaneityLightingFinesse Author:Roger Deakins
“I think film is a director's medium and the good filmmakers that I like tell the darker stories. Therefore, I'm always inclined to follow people like David Cronenberg.” PeopleThinkingStoriesFilmDirectorsMediumsFilmmaker Author:Naomi Watts
“The challenge in writing the songs for The Aristocats truly fell on the animators & director of the film. Robert & I wrote the initial songs for the film, just prior to leaving full-time employment at the Walt Disney Studios. Therefore, some of the songs we wrote for The Aristocats were never used. I believe, therefore, the challenge fell upon the makers of the film to select what songs made the final cut.” WritingBelieveMadeFilmUsedSongI BelieveChallengesCuttingDirectorsFinalsLeavingStudiosEmploymentMakersInitialsSelectWaltAnimator Author:Richard Sherman
“Even if I loved the script, the director has to be right because it's all about the filmmaker. It's their vision. They're the ones that go back into the editing room and reassemble the film.” IfsFilmRoomsVisionDirectorsScriptsFilmmakerEditing Author:Cameron Diaz
“Every single time when you act in a film, and there's a different director, which of course as actors we're used to experiencing that's what we do, it's a different experience.” DifferentFilmUsedCoursesActorsDirectorsDifferent Experiences Author:Famke Janssen
“Most films and directors lose their nerve and want to indicate [emotions] a bit more, to show that their story is clear. I'm not saying that's a good thing; as an actor its anathema to good acting, but to have someone with the confidence to say that should I be utterly natural and minimalist is great.” WantShouldStoriesShowsFilmActorsBitsLosesNaturalActingEmotionClearDirectorsGood ThingsNervesShould IMinimalistAnathemaGood Acting Author:Matt Damon
“It really depends on the director. I think quite often, it's not what you expect. The most serious film can be the most fun. The one that's supposed to be fun can be the most serious. I don't think there are any hard-and-fast rules. I just think it really depends on your director and what the general vibe is.” ThinkingHardFilmFunSeriousDependsDirectorsSupposed To Be Author:Eric Bana
“For film, I audition just like everyone else, because it's a different set of casting directors.” DifferentFilmDirectorsAuditionsCastingCasting Directors Author:Neil Patrick Harris
“I try to attach myself to people who really inspire me, and directors who are really passionate. That way, I can give myself more fully and trust the impulse behind why the film is being made, and I can be a little more irresponsible in finding out what the character is.” PeopleWayGivingTryingLittlesMadeI CanCharacterFilmBehindsInspireDirectorsFindingsPassionateImpulseIrresponsible Author:Willem Dafoe
“If someone were to hire me for a film they'd be getting a certain kind of package, that's for sure, a certain set of tools. But I would listen to the director.” IfsKindFilmCertainDirectorsToolsPackages Author:Mike Patton
“If a director says he doesn't care how many people see his films at all, I simply don't believe him. Otherwise why would he bother to make the film? The only explanation would be that it would be an act of masturbation. I think that every creator is looking for a receptor. He's looking for an audience. There are two parts of the equation: a creator and, necessarily, the receiver of the work. It's the same thing for a painter who wants his paintings to be seen.” PeopleIfsThinkingWantBelieveTwoWould BeCareFilmAudiencePaintingDirectorsDon't BelieveCreatorPainterBotherExplanationWorking ItEquationsMasturbationReceiverHe Doesn't Care Author:Michael Haneke
“People think that the directors direct actors. No. Really, what the director's doing is directing the audience's eye through the film.” PeopleThinkingEyeFilmActorsAudienceDirectorsDirect Author:Julianne Moore