“If a film is very clever and well-written, that's what gives you freedom as a director.” IfsGivingWellsFilmWrittenDirectorsCleverWell WrittenVery Clever Author:Patrice Leconte
“I think, as written, 'Assassins' simply acknowledges the very human need to be acknowledged. As director, I've got to put aside any particular biases or prejudices that, as a moral human being, this is not an appropriate or acceptable way to get what you want.” ThinkingWayWantNeedsHumansHuman BeingsMoralWrittenParticularDirectorsPrejudiceWhat You WantAcknowledgeAppropriateAcceptableAssassinsHuman Needs Author:Joe Mantello
“I would not have made any of my films or written scripts such as Taxi Driver had it not been for Ingmar Bergman, What he has left is a legacy greater than any other director.... I think the extraordinary thing that Bergman will be remembered for, other than his body of work, was that he probably did more than anyone to make cinema a medium of personal and introspective value.” ThinkingMadeBodyFilmValuesLeftGreaterWrittenDirectorsExtraordinaryScriptsMediumsLegacyRememberedCinemaDriversIntrospectiveTaxiExtraordinary ThingsBergman Author:Paul Schrader
“Its different being a director. I suppose, especially if its a story youve written and you feel compelled to tell, in some ways its a lot easier than acting because youre orchestrating the piece. As an actor, sometimes youre trying to second-guess what people want.” PeopleIfsWayWantFeelsTryingDifferentSometimesStoriesActorsActingPiecesWrittenEasierDirectorsCompelled Author:Paddy Considine
“An actor and a [theatre] director are both what I would call interpreters of work. We interpret a work, just as a musician will interpret a composer's work, we interpret the work of a playwright. We are servants of the theatre and I've always believed that. We must serve what has been written, that's what we're there for.” Has BeensActorsWrittenDirectorsMusicianTheatreServantComposerAlways BelievePlaywrightInterpreterTheatre Directors Author:George Ogilvie
“You have to understand that people feel threatened by a writer. It's very curious. He knows something they don't know. He knows how to write, and that's a subtle, disturbing quality he has. Some directors without even knowing it, resent the writer in the same way Bob Hope might resent the fact he ain't funny without twelve guys writing the jokes. The director knows the script he is carrying around on the set every day was written by someone, and that's just not something that all directors easily digest.” PeopleKnowsWayFeelsWritingFactsMightGuyQualityKnow HowKnowingWrittenDirectorsJokesScriptsCuriousSubtleTwelveBobThreatenedDisturbingResent Author:Ernest Lehman
“I've written a lot of scripts that someone else directed, and it's absolutely vital that, if I'm gonna act in it, then I have to take off the writer hat and let the director direct.” IfsWrittenDirectorsDirectScriptsHats Author:William H. Macy
“A writer/director is a tough thing to gauge when someone hasn't directed a movie before. You just don't know. Sometimes it will be a great script that's written beautifully, and then the director who has also written it does not have the facility to translate it.” KnowsDoeSometimesWrittenDirectorsToughScriptsTranslateFacilityGaugesTough Things Author:Richard Ayoade
“I'm not really a director or producer for hire. There's lots of big gigs out there, but I'm not looking to do that. Usually, when I'm directing or producing, I've written it myself. I'm not really trying to get on some big horse that's running through town. I just make my own stuff.” TryingBigsRunningStuffMy OwnWrittenDirectorsHorseTownsProducersGigs Author:Mike White
“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
“If a film is very clever and well-written, that's what gives you freedom as a director. Part of the freedom in directing, for me, is that I'm also the camera operator. That's the place where things are less rigid, where I can adjust as I go along.” IfsGivingWellsI CanFilmWrittenDirectorsCamerasCleverWell WrittenOperatorsVery Clever Author:Patrice Leconte
“I've never acted before in a movie I've directed. This felt like the time to do it just because the " Leaves of Grass" movie itself is so much of a platform for the lead actor. It's really written for an exciting performance and it really depends on the audience watching an extraordinary actor having a great time pulling off this feat. It makes sense to me as a director to act in support of that.” ActorsFeltSupportAudienceWrittenDependsDirectorsPerformancesExcitingExtraordinaryMake SenseGrassPlatformsPullingGreat TimesFeatsLeaves Of Grass Author:Edward Norton
“If a director can find the exact combination between the written word as a guideline and improvisational input from his actors, I think that's where you'll find the most successful work being done.” IfsThinkingDoneActorsSuccessfulWrittenDirectorsCombinationInputWritten WordBeing DoneGuidelinesSuccessful Work Author:Alan Thicke
“When I write a film, the film gets handed off to a producer and a director and I go my merry way. With television, I am expected and contracted to stick around and actually produce what I've written.” WayWritingFilmWrittenProduceTelevisionDirectorsSticksExpectedProducersMerry Author:Marc Guggenheim
“I don't think the written word is important in movies anymore and the really great movies are done by great directors who in many cases write their own scripts. I think it's gotten to be more of a visual thing than an audible thing.” ThinkingWritingImportantDoneCasesWrittenDirectorsScriptsVisualsReally GreatWritten Word Author:Anita Loos
“Big Fish was the first movie that we worked on together, and I had already written it. We had another director, but that director didn't do it. So, it was just a Hail Mary to Tim, and Tim said that he wanted to do it and I was like, "That's fantastic!" But, there wasn't a lot of collaboration because he knew what he wanted to do and just did it. There were very minor changes for Big Fish.” FirstsSaidBigsWantedTogetherWrittenDirectorsFishesFantasticCollaborationMaryMinorsHailBig FishHail Mary Author:John August
“And then, once you've written, you meet producers and directors and actors. You get to meet interesting, talented, creative, artistic people, and it also staves off a bit of creative stagnation when you can't act, which is the reality of the industry. So often, you can't act because there are just too many cars and not enough car parks. But, I love writing and I'll never stop doing that.” PeopleWritingEnoughRealityActorsBitsInterestingCreativeWrittenCarIndustryDirectorsProducersArtisticParksStagnationCreative ArtCar Parks Author:Josh Lawson
“Yeah, well I can't see a situation where I wouldn't at least re-write as a director something I was going to direct. At the moment, I wouldn't direct anything that I hadn't written. I can now say, as everybody else says, that it all depends on the script.” WritingWellsI CanMomentsSituationWrittenDependsDirectorsDirectYeahScripts Author:William Monahan
“I have written screenplays. Most recently for Errol Morris, who was thinking about doing his first fiction movie, and with a young director who wanted to adopt Project X. Errol was a hoot. I loved talking with him. We were a good match, too, because we both kept joking that we'd found the only other person on earth more ambivalent than we were about the project.” ThinkingFirstsPersonsWantedEarthYoungFoundFictionTalkingWrittenDirectorsProjectsScreenplaysAmbivalentHootMorris Author:Jim Shepard
“I don't think Roger Ebert has ever mentioned a screenplay. He assigns every auctorial move to the director, which makes some sense since the director has run a one-off game, but if Hamlet were written last year and had been only performed once as a film, and it didn't come off well on screen for whatever reason, it would be gone forever as a literary work, and never would have been considered as one.” IfsThinkingYearsWellsHas BeensReasonWould BeRunningLastsFilmMovingGamesGoneForeverWrittenDirectorsScreensLast YearScreenplaysRogerLiterary Works Author:William Monahan
“While the storytelling in games is getting so much better, you look at something like Grand Theft Auto V, which I thought was really beautifully written, it doesn't really need a movie because it is a movie. So I think you need a unique game - you either need an incredibly talented writer and director to come in and put together an amazing vision, or you need a game like Metal Gear, which is very cinematic, has a huge amount of history behind it, but whose cinematic experience is very different from what you'd get in a theater.” ThinkingNeedsLooksDifferentTogetherGamesBehindsVisionWrittenHugeAmountDirectorsUniqueTheaterStorytellingMetalsTheftGearsCinematicReally BeautifulGrand Theft AutoMetal Gear Author:David Hayter
“The director Denis [Villeneuve] is actually an actor (he's from Sons of Anarchy and he's a great character actor) and he's also a screenwriter (he wrote What Lies Beneath). It blows my mind to see when people from one sector move to another and excel. I think Sicario was one of the best directed and written films. It did get [a nomination for best] cinematography, though.” PeopleThinkingMindCharacterFilmMovingLyingActorsWrittenSonDirectorsBlowAnarchyScreenwritersNominationsGreat CharacterCharacter ActorsCinematography Author:Bun B