Debbie Allen Quotes

When you're working on a film, it's not theater; you don't have a few weeks of rehearsal. A lot of times you are showing up on set, and you've never been to the place; you've never met the other actors you're working with.

Once you've agreed the script, you must be willing to go as far as it needs to go on set.

When you shoot a film, you have very little time to waste, and I try to go into the character as soon as possible and stay there as much as I can.

We rehearsed our 'Scarface' to the nines. Long period of rehearsal, so that by the time we started to shoot, it was almost like doing a play. We all had a grand time doing it. It was a wonderful cast.

I think the toughest thing about being an actor in a film is to be with a director who doesn't know what they want. And that can be really, really frustrating.

The way that I deal with actors as a director is I just talk to them forever before we even arrive on set.

I have worked in films where we just put on the make-up and go in for a shoot without any discussions and even a talk with the director.

When I was doing 'Ordinary People' and 'Taps,' I never wondered if it would have a lasting impression. I was just wanting to make the best film we could and do my part in that and be true to what my responsibilities were.

The least consideration of any film I've ever worked on is who is right for it.

I feel that once you go into rehearsal, you need to focus on the show in the room.

Nobody could dissapear to their trailer once it was up and running, you were all there on the same stage. It was 10 days of rehearsal and 10 days of shooting, which was very tiring.

What you do is get the right director and the right screenwriter and the right cast. It's a fantastic job.

When we shoot 24, there are so many things I have to worry about, from the script to technical things to my performance, that I don't have a second to be bored or take anything for granted. We produce 24 hours of film a season, which is like making 12 movies.

The first thing I ask when I'm offered a part is, Who's the director? which is something they never understand in Los Angeles.

If I heard somebody else say, 'I worked on a movie for five years', I'd be like, 'What? How could it take that long? What were you doing?'

I spent a long time working in the movies to figure out that kind of acting and also how to write and produce for the screen.

I definitely managed to do different kinds of things. My focus is usually who the director is, because at the end of the day the director is the storyteller, what the movie is all about. I don't want to participate in something that I don't think is constructive storytelling.

I learned more doing 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' than I did during three years at drama school.

All we did in Alabama was have a read through with the script, but there was, 'No, well, it needs more. You've got to do this, Albert. You've got to do that, Jessica.' It didn't feel like that at all.

I demanded two weeks of rehearsal because to me as an actor, that's the most important time.

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.

We just started filming, and after every scene was shot, we had a rehearsal for the next one.

Arnaud Desplechin invented me as an actor. I never imagined I'd be acting in movies.

Before I start directing a show, I try to spend a few weeks hanging around the set, getting to know the crew and talking to the actors about how they like to work. Who is fussy? Who is left-handed? Who wants to go home early, and who is the perfectionist?

I mean, a lot of time rehearsals are taken up with other things other than preparing a character.