Malik Yoba Quotes

The real excitement is collaborating with computer scientists and neuroscientists and starting to understand in detail how children learn so much so quickly.

I think a first-time director always has to convince a lot of people that they're ready to do it.

Every little opportunity and chance that I get to be on a set, to be a director, to utilize the skill sets that I already have and to learn what I don't know, and to see how I can improve upon that is just a really great opportunity for me.

To answer the question, though: I didn't always want to direct. I just liked the idea of it. If a friend was making a short and needed someone who knew screen direction, I would jump in. It would be horrible, but it led to a short, then another, and another. It was like student films.

It would be better, in a way, if any adults present were completely uneducated. There is nothing children like more than passing on information they have just discovered to people who may not already have it - an elderly grandmother, for instance.

You spend enough time on set as an actor and it's great when a director was at some point an actor or understands acting. They're able to finesse performances out of you that a lot directors can't get.

After I directed for the first time, I wanted to call every director I'd ever worked with and apologize. In television you are tasked with shooting 42 minutes, or whatever, in eight days. That's not a lot of time.

Going online and asking questions is the best way to learn.

I started off as a director, so when I see other actors directing, it gives me hope that maybe they'll put me into that position at some point, too.

One of the very important characteristics of a student is to question. Let the students ask questions.

Great directors turn in mediocre work, and first-time directors turn in exceptional work. No matter how good a person can talk about what he wants, you never know. You just have to go with a good story and a script that you like and people that you like to work with.

I loved working with Stephen Frears. He's a really fantastic director. He knows what he wants and how to get it.

John Boorman was the best director I've ever had.

You can't refuse to move forward when you're educating in design, because that's what we're asking students to do the whole time.

Rajkumar was the winner of 'Naalaya Iyakkunar Season 2,' and I was impressed with his short film. He joined me as an assistant when I started the pre-production work for 'Vada Chennai.'

I think you go through a stage where you're constantly asking questions because you're learning every day, and when it's like that you need to bring results with it.

I had the chance to learn from some really talented people who have taught me a lot.

I always love being an actor for the simple fact that, whenever you do a job, you have to read a lot of stuff that you've never read before; you explore things, and generally you meet experts in lots of fields, and you get to absorb that information and make it look like you've done it for 20 years.

I learned a lot while I was ACing and gripping for other DPs as I was coming up.

So in a strong sense with Java it was a learning process for us - there was some tech learning - but the most important learnings were social or behavioral things.

As actors, we have the opportunity to work with many directors. Directors only work with themselves and other actors. They never know what it is like to work with another director. So that relationship that one has with a director is entirely always the king.

Directors are our teachers, and I'm always craving to work with a great director. They're pretty much the first thing that interests me about a project.

Steven [Soderbergh] is so generous and when I sat down to meet him for "Logan Lucky" he answered so many questions about directing, so when I was on set I tried not to bug him too much.

I've worked with some absolutely wonderful directors who bring out the best in me and I know I can trust, and then I've had the opposite experience, too. I've had both experiences, and obviously one is good and one is not good. When they're great, it's good. When they're not great, it's not so great.

I think directors should at least take acting lessons to see what's going on. And I think all actors should direct to see what a director has to go through.