Zal Batmanglij Quotes

I don't know what directing actors is all about apart from just casting well and then shaping their performances a bit, you know.

I learned my business in the theater and in television, particularly working with the actors. You can learn much more in the theater than directing a movie, because then you have no time when you are shooting a movie to really work with the actors. You have to learn this craft somewhere else.

I am totally a director's actor.

There was a choice of being a director who's more familiar with the technicality of doing a movie, like learning about the camera and filters and setup, or being a director who can actually talk to actors. And I always wanted to be an actor's director.

I've seen what a difference a good director can make to an actor's performance.

As a director, I'm not the one animating every frame, every shot. I'm moving around like a surgeon on rounds, or a farmer checking in on all the plants being grown, pruning and adjusting. For me, it's a very exciting job.

Good directors give short and specific instructions to their actors.

It's interesting - an actor's research is different to just historian's research. I'm looking for things that I can actually physically use in the movie.

As an actress I find the most enjoyable part of acting is really just to please the director. I just want to please my director.

My job when I'm acting in a movie is very limited to playing a role. I'm not evaluating somebody. I'm only evaluating them insofar as they're interacting with me, but I'm not evaluating their skill set and I don't watch the movies, so I'm not aware of the way they're putting things together.

I'm very interested in directing actors - many directors direct cameras.

You don't really think about 3D when you're acting. As a director, you do.

I have directed good actors and have gone through the process which is more detailed in theater in a way. You have to get people to stay for two or three hours in a performance. They need more talk and rehearsal than in films.

Well, in the theater, I think you're actually more responsible for what is going on onstage as a director than you are in film.

On 'Glee,' the director can be like, 'Hey, your face is looking a little too intense here.' And they can show me the screen, and I can be like, 'I know exactly what to do here.'

I always think that a director who knows about the technical side, but cares about the acting performances and casting as well, is ahead of the game.

The dynamics of film directing and fashion design - in the ways that I've done it - were not dissimilar.

In TV, sometimes you get lost in the fog of the scene, and when you're working with such good actors, they can bring you into the scene.

Actors are accustomed to doing exactly what the director or writer requests us to do, and rarely get involved in that part of the process.

A lot of directors want to storyboard you, whereas the best way to get a performance out of an actor is a collaborative process where you listen to the actor's input.

Alan Ball, he's good at challenging his actors, I'll say that.

In my heart of hearts, I love theatre. It's the joy and terror of putting a play on, the creativity of it. It is infinitely harder than film and television and more tiring. Your performance is heightened in the way it isn't with film.

It helps for actors if you have one director.

Thugs Of Hindostan' involved a lot of prep to be able to make the character look effortless.

Theatre is something that keeps me very alert, and I am actively creating whether I am on stage or directing. In films, I feel I become more of an introvert, going deeper in the realism of a character.