Otto Preminger Quotes

As a director, you have to know what actors are doing. You're the one telling them what to do. The actors' job is to come prepared to the set, but sometimes, if they're beginning actors or people who are non-actors, you have to teach them how to act.

I don't think it's necessary to be an actor to get great performances out of an actor. But I do think it helps me as a director because I know what I like as an actor, and I try to get that to the actors who I'm working with.

I always try to do more than one or two takes if we have the time.

With directors, some have a kind of in-built ability to just know how to work with actors and get the best out of actors, and some don't have a clue about acting. I think it'd be a good idea if directors put themselves in front of the camera, or even went on a six-week drama course, just to know a little bit about what that feels like.

I think acting really helps as a director. It's just no question, because you totally understand the acting process.

The best way to learn how to work with actors is to have had experience of trying to act yourself - it will teach you humility if nothing else.

Being an actor really, really strengthens me as a director. There's just a certain type of understanding that comes from having been there and knowing how much is really being asked of actors that helps me.

As an actor, the first thing you're taught is, 'Don't look into the camera; ignore it.'

As an actor, I had noticed very vividly that very few directors know how to direct actors because they haven't done it.

Oliver Stone will never be happy with the first take. He wants more than that. When you’re delivering your lines, he’ll stop you and tell you some kind of riddle about the character and you have to go away and figure that out. If you’re hoping for him to give you all the answers, then you’re in for a long day.

And I realized that directing actors is really important because that's what ends up on screen.

When you sing for a film, you are not in control, because somebody else is directing it; somebody is doing the lyrics.

As the days progressed, I felt as if YNK' was my first film. That is because the director was hellbent on perfectionism. He was insistent about getting the best out of me.

Whenever I finish a film, I feel that this is the worst film that I have made. This is bound to happen because while writing, directing and editing a film, I would have lived it 5000 times. Naturally, one tends to loose objectivity.

Every actor strives to be in the moment, and when you're on a horse, you constantly have to communicate with it and assert your authority.

I'm always under the impression that directors should act at some point or another.

The idea of acting on the first 'Halloween', it didn't really apply to my eventual work, working with actors.

People think a director teaches acting. But in good films a director doesn't.

There are so many talented actors in my contemporaries and my seniors... I seek inspiration from each one of them.

I am indeed fortunate to work with some reputed directors like Balaji Sakthivel, Sekhar Kammula, and KV Anand sir. Each one of them has a different style, and every day is a learning experience for me.

When I did 'Kaaka Muttai,' I was a very raw actor. Director Manikandan brought out the best in me.

I don't want to infantilize the actor; I want to empower the actor. Actors can be many things, but all of the really good ones are really great storytellers, and I'm interested in that. If you're not interested in that as a director then you better be Stanley Kurbrick.

For the record, if you're not a stage actor, climbing onto Broadway and tackling something like David Mamet is not an easy thing to do.

I want to be in a good movie, and so the narrative is way more important.

Wayne Wang, the director, really helped me become a more mature actress. When I first started filming, I was really over the top. He just helped bring me down and make me real. That was really wonderful, a really wonderful experience. Also, what I learned about filming is it takes forever. I mean, there are so many different angles and shots. I mean, it just takes forever.