Robert De Niro Quotes

Every director works differently but one thing's important: they must have a vision. If they don't have a vision I don't care how they work.

I always wanted to direct. I always saw myself as a director.

Everyone that I meet always wants me to direct, but whenever I think of directing, I think of aligning shots. I'd definitely have to write and direct something. But I don't know if I could.

All directors make films in individual ways. But the classical kind of view of filmmaking is that you have a script and it's very linear.

When I was shooting with Tarantino and Mike Mills and amazing directors, it made me think that I would never be a director. It's obviously too hard.

I may even show up behind the camera. I love to put things together; I love to give direction. I have a great eye for pace.

Often people going into directing want to learn as much as they possibly can about "technique." And I say the hell with that.

When you shoot a film, when it was film, there used to be rushes and normally a director would look at them the next day. All directors look at the rushes, except for Fellini. I asked him why he didn't and said, "Because it interrupts my fantasy." What he was trying to say was that he had a three-dimensional, vibrant, living, volatile fantasy going on in his head, and when he looked at rushes, they were two-dimensional and they killed it.

I really enjoy talking to actors or filmmakers that enjoy that process of creating and how they go about doing it.

I always used to associate good directors as being ones who are totally extreme and have an answer for everything and there are no loose ends.

I would love to be able to get behind the camera and direct actors. I think that would be a lot of fun.

Directing is a nice job. It's the best job for me. If I had to pay money to do it, I would do it... Directing is playing. Acting.

I didn't even know what a film director was. To me, Charlie Chaplin was a goofy clown, and John Ford - what? Never heard of him.

I like directing much better. It's more fun, that's all there is to it. It's essentially the same job, which is storytelling, but you have more control over the way you want to tell the story. It's a high. I love it.

When you start on a new film, no matter how many you've done before that, I think I've done close to 80 films, but it's always kind of a fun adventure.

I'd like to work more as a director. It's distracting being an actor, because - there's a lot of reasons. You find out you're going to work about six months before you start shooting, and then there's prep and there's post afterward, and there's stuff to do, and then suddenly you've gone a year without directing. There's a part of me that has to not be tempted by that in order to commit more to the directing. Honestly, the big reason for me to act is to observe other directors and learn from them. That seems to be the biggest draw.

[Martin Scorsese ] basically works just like any other director. You work the scene, you try to find what's best in it and make it work. That's what it was like.

I would definitely like to direct at some point. I've been very fortunate to work with some amazing talent and study them. But when the right time and the right story arrives, and I feel like I'm compelled to tell it, then I'll do that.

I love directing because you get to see your film come to life. You get to work with the actors. There's something magical about each piece of it.

Making a film is a beautiful mystery. You go deep into the wood, and you don't want to come out of that wood.

I like the anonymity that directors can have about their films.

I'm better suited to be a director, I think. I see myself as the general author. I hate the word 'auteur,' because it sounds so solitary when filmmaking is anything but solitary.

Twelve years on sets watching directors, I've taken a bit from everybody and rejected a lot.

I find that all great directors, and I would include Ben Affleck and Clint Eastwood in that, they have great confidence. And with great confidence comes great freedom for the actor.

I worked with Steven Spielberg on 'AI,' and his level of preparation was extraordinary. He told me there was a time at the beginning when he was a bit more spontaneous and went over budget, and it absolutely wrecked his head. When you look at the power and assuredness of his movies, it makes sense that he works out so much in advance.