Bill Condon Quotes

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 didn't train in directing; I talk to actors the way I talk to anybody.

I would say that maybe directors who act as well are easier with actors. I'm not saying that all directors have this, but sometimes you'll come across a director who sort of looks at an actor a bit like a kind of untrained horse that's been let out of the stable, like they might buck him.

Any director who's also acted understands the fact that every person has a different process and has to be approached differently.

Actors always feel more comfortable when there's an actor directing, in terms of vocabulary and breaking down a scene.

My strength is with actors. I think I'm good at working with them to get the best performances, at seeing what it is that they have and that the story needs.

Each actor, every single time you work with an actor, you have to come up with the language that's going to serve them. And that's what allows them to give the performance that you want to nurture inside of them and what you think they're capable of giving.

Some directors hardly talk to the actors at all.

Good directors give short and specific instructions to their actors.

A lot of film directors are quite scared of actors. They are a bit of a nightmare sometimes, but I like them. It looks like cunning, but you try to get extra things from them all the time, by stealth, by making them feel confident, so they trust you and you can push a bit.

I try to really focus on the actors I'm working with and kind of read and respond to their behavior.

The majority of directors I've worked with didn't know how to talk to actors.

Actors know how to talk to other actors in a way that sometimes other directors just don't.

Oliver Stone's strategy is to unnerve the actors so as to make them alert and alive.

It took me a long time to realize that you have to have a bit of an interlanguage with actors. You have to give them something that they can act with.

Working with actors really depends on the actor. Most of the directors I've worked with don't really know how to speak to actors, actually; some of the best directors don't.

I love actors. I love working with actors. I really enjoy the process. I love having those in-depth discussions about the interior of their character, and actors really love to discuss that, too. I could talk about that for days with them. They love that, and I love that.

A lot of directors straight out of film school are very technically minded, but they don't have an understanding of actors or how to talk to them.

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

I direct as an actor. Many times, I will say, 'Let me try this.' And I'll walk the scene through and see what I can tell the actor about it. I don't know what to tell him until I've actually tried it and seen what the problem is.

Jack Bender is a real actor's director. Because he was an actor, and because he directed theater, he really enjoys that process.

When I do a film, I follow the director.

Scorsese is a fan of improv and is always pushing actors to think up something that would make the scene more fun. He loves any idea that helps the scene be alive.

Directing is a whole series of things that would be awkward socially. But I love that. I love actors. Talking with them, touching, laughing, crying.

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