Peter Weir Quotes

We all were there for the readings, the screen tests, and we knew. We knew Dustin was the guy right away.

I think filmmakers are always interested in getting the best actor that they can find, the person who's the most right for it.

Producing small films, you usually have four or five people you want, and you hope one of them will say they'll do it.

When 'The Lighthouse,' bizarrely, became the film that people wanted to greenlight, it was really clear that those were the only two people to play the roles. And I knew that they would want to do it.

I usually try not to think about actors while writing, because the odds of those stars aligning and you getting those specific people are so rare.

I am very filmmaker oriented, as a producer. I think the most important thing is that you have to really choose the players carefully.

You set up the look, the visual effects and the sets, and that's awesome, but I enjoy the casting most of all. That's where you really get to define the show.

[Tony Richardson ] just liked me, knew I was going to be what he wanted [in The Hotel New Hampshire], and that was the end of it. It was unbelievable.

I've worked with non-professional actors, I've worked with movie stars, I've worked with kids, I've worked with older people, and I've found my job as a director is to cast them well and to understand what they need on set to bring the material to life.

In the horror genre, unfortunately you sometimes have the studio tell you, "No, go with more unknown people because it's a scary movie," and I disagree.

I relieve myself from the rigours of directing by casting the movie correctly.

Everything in The Room, we did it the same way the big studios do it. The only difference is the budget and the actors. We put an ad in Back Stage West and in return we got almost 8,000 headshots from people who wanted to be in the film. We then do a process of selection and a rehearsal process after they are selected. The process of audition is very time consuming.

With most movies I've done before, I've done a lot of preparation. I've known about them long before [shooting], and I've prepped and changed my body and done research, and all the things you could imagine.

I'm always involved with casting my movies. I have final word on it.

I like to do a lot of research on all of the films I work on. So, I like to read a lot. That's always an interesting part of it with me.

On film, you can't do it over again. And you do have to stop shooting at a certain point.

When I'm casting a picture, I think who I'd like to see in it if I was sitting in a theater. Who would surprise me?

I'm one of those people who really likes to do my research.

My own personal process with movies is to develop the characters with the actors and, when I've done that properly, you can't imagine anyone else, but that actor, playing that part.

Very occasionally I hire an actor and get it wrong. The actor just doesn't trust the process or me as fully as I thought they would. In this case, you can be quite sure that if an actor is untrusting, it's got nothing to do with me or the process.

The casting is the most important thing. If you cast a picture really well a lot of things take care of themselves. You get actors that like to give a lot to the role and who appreciate the role on the same level that you do. If you miscast it, you're working an uphill battle a little bit and maybe you can come out okay but you can't always come out great.

Casting the right actor for the right part is some unspoken thing between the two of you to communicate.

I'm fine watching stuff on tape, to me casting is the most painful part of the whole process, it's like going on a horribly awkward date every five minutes for eight hours, and people come in and they'll be someone good but they're not right, and you want to tell them they're good, but it sounds like BS, and they're looking at your face to see how they did, what adjustments they need, and it's just so emotionally draining, and it goes on and on.

In terms of putting the cast together, no problems. You know, the only problem always is just price-point. Our ambitions as we get older, all of us, is to try and do more.

So the question never comes up. I love to work with actors who I feel really confident in knowing what I'm going to get from them. And making a movie is such a risk that it's comforting to build up a good support team in production as well as cast.