Nicholas Ray Quotes

I have realised I am a director's actor.

Actors aren't stupid, mostly, and if there's a sensibility and an aesthetic that a director's going for, if you're aware of that too, you can do things to help that.

My greatest strength as an actor is that I follow my director's brief completely. The film is always the director's visual baby.

I think what makes a good actor's director is somebody who understands what I'm doing and is respectful of it, but who also has a vision and is directing me toward their vision in a way that feels productive.

It's part of the job of the actor to torture the director.

As an actor, you're always at the service of somebody else's vision. In a play, it's more of the director's vision, and he or she's got their hands on you all the way up to opening night, and if it's a film, there are even more people.

I am a director's actress in general - I depend a lot on them.

I am completely a director's actor. If the director gives me the liberty and freedom, then I give my inputs. Otherwise, I just follow instructions.

A film is a director's vision... there is, however, much input an actor or actress can have.

I've acted with all types, I've directed all types. What you want to understand, as a director, is what actors have to offer. They'll get at it however they get at it. If you can understand that, you can get your work done.

I love actors, both my parents were actors, and the work with actors is the most enjoyable part of making a film. It's important that they feel protected and are confident they won't be betrayed. When you create that atmosphere of trust, it's in the bag - the actors will do everything to satisfy you.

I'm a director's actor and go by what they say.

I'm very old-school. I like a director to direct me. I like to be the actor.

I love actors, and I love the casting process. It's funny, like, some writers don't like actors because, I think, they are the faces of the show, and so you feel sort of secondary, but I love actors because they elevate the material; they make it better.

I'm really a director's actor. I rely heavily on a director.

The best thing an actor can be is flexible, because all directors are different and all actors are different.

I'm a director's actor; I'm a storyteller's actor.

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.

Established actors will challenge you if they don't agree with the way you are taking it, and you have to argue it. But with a younger cast, they are more likely to wonder whether what they are doing is okay instead of trying to second guess the director. That helps push you.

Most actors go, 'I read the script and fell in love with it'; I fall in love with the directors.

Working with actors who are directors is magnificent. Because they understand the art form intimately, and they know exactly how everything works.

Jack Bender is a real actor's director. Because he was an actor, and because he directed theater, he really enjoys that process.

If there's one thing that I know how to do, it's talk to actors. From what I have experienced working with so many different directors in so many different things, a lot of them don't really know how to talk to us.

I am totally a director's actor.

It helps for actors if you have one director.