Richard Avedon Quotes

Everybody uses mime and gesture in real life, though we don't realize it. It's very useful as a performance technique, though it can be boring to watch on its own.

I want to photograph what I see and put it in a dramatic context. I'm an actor and a writer, and I want to tell these stories and present these shapes, colors and movements as I see them, as I see them serve a narrative. As I see that narrative serve an audience. That's what I want to do.

They say that theater is the actor's medium, television is the writer's medium and film is the director's medium, and it's really true.

As a cinematographer or director, I'm always looking for projects that are able to say a lot with the actor's expressions.

The reason I think the shows I do are successful with a wider public is because they tap into something that's beyond dance and is about being told a story. That's what people want.

'Cheers' was a good first step because I got to write my own material.

Entertainment is a great form of being able to tell a story and to spread a message.

To have the privileged position of being the guy who is responsible for shaping the entire experience for an audience as opposed to being just one instrument in that orchestra, being an actor, it's all-encompassing.

I love the challenge of having an audience know what you're thinking without having to tell the audience what you're thinking.

The camera is not the instrument. People are always the instrument.

I guess I have a fascination with the idea of puppeteering. I think, in a lot of ways, directing is puppeteering. I guess I see a lot of analogies between what puppeteers and filmmakers do.

Actors are supposed to be these runaways that get in a covered wagon filled with hats and tambourines and go from town to town making people smile.

In theater, the primary tool for me was voice. On-screen, it's the eyes.

The silent movie is an emotional cinema: it's sensory; the fact that you don't go through a text brings you back to a basic way of telling a story predicated on the feelings you have created.

There's a lot of noise in the world. And one of the beautiful things about doing theater and film is the absence of that noise or, perhaps, the adding of that noise where it's helpful in telling the story. I'm always trying to get rid of that noise. The more you do it, the better you get.

The thing that I probably enjoy the most and also am the best at in whatever art form I'm working in is being the protector of the emotional experience of the audience.

I love the interactive nature of theater. I just craved it. As much as I love working on a film or TV set, most of the storytelling happens in the editing, whereas when you're doing a play, the storytelling is in your hands as an actor.

I come from theatre, and I feel like I have to go back to it every few years because it's like nourishment for the soul. And, as an actor, it's the place you have most control: no one cuts or edits you, and you get to tell the story each night.

I was swept by the narrative structure of film... you can create a world, you can destroy it, you can do what you want with it and serve it to people just the way you like.

When you make a film, you realize that the audience will be powerless to stop it or flip back to refresh their memories or skip the boring parts. They are at the mercy of your storytelling.

Film's a director's medium. Stage an actor's medium.

I move my face so much because I'm very much expressive. I'm told a lot, 'Stop moving your face'. Because on camera, the tiniest movement tells so much, and it looks really hammy.

Photography is a pursuit that allows you to be very hands-on with what you show people of either yourself or the art you want to make, and acting is kind of the exact opposite. You do have a modicum of creative freedom as an actor, but you're still very much a cipher for other people's art.

I like to entertain all kinds of audiences with my films.

Earlier, actors had a lot of power in their hands. And now, it has gone in the hands of the directors and writers, and that is how it should be. They are the visionaries, and we are the doers.