Lynn Shelton Quotes

Look, a lot of directors were actors, even if they were unsuccessful actors which I think is helpful. I think it's a really helpful thing for a director to have experienced that. It helps you know how to talk to actors and how to get what you need from them.

Dealing with actors is incredibly complex because they oftentimes are like pieces of clay. They want to be told how you want it done. You have to then decide if you want to be the teller or if you want to give them agency.

To be able to work with actors who are doing such good work, not only makes it easier for you, but it makes you better.

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 part that I felt most comfortable with going in was just working with actors and trying to make them feel comfortable and safe so they could find the performance. That part felt organic to me.

Working with actors is something I've never done before. I find it tremendous. It's hard work.

I can speak to actors in their terms. Knowing I was an actor, they relax. You can have the best shot in the world - but, at the center of it, you still need a good performance.

Acting is probably the number one team sport in America as far as I'm concerned.

One of the things I love about directing is I love actors, because no matter how complex they are, once you get down to working and talking to them and the toughest guy will want you to open them up and he wants to show you stuff he was afraid to show anybody before.

A lot of directors want to storyboard you, whereas the best way to get a performance out of an actor is a collaborative process where you listen to the actor's input.

Many plays - certainly mine - are like blank checks. The actors and directors put their own signatures on them.

I'm a dramatist, so I really always wrote and directed at the same time because when I wrote something, I always put it on its feet. So I'm in love with actors; I always loved actors.

With acting, there's a certain amount of independence you have within the framework of the storytelling. When it's done well, it's a collaborative medium.

As a director, you see something in someone; you know it's there, you just got to go get it. You do that with any actor. That's your job.

And being an actor already means that working with cast as a director, I have a clear understanding of their position and that collaboration is great and useful.

I like collaborating with actors. I love finding that moment where it all comes together.

I've enjoyed lots of productions, and it's always been down to the actors I've been working with.

I already love acting and I love actors, so being able to communicate with actors and to bring performances out of them, and to tell a story and aid them, is really exciting for me.

Producing is hell, writing is frustrating, acting is really satisfying, directing is heaven.

I think as a filmmaker and as a director, you shortchange yourself if you inhibit the ability of your actor to bring their own personal experiences to the characters.

I love actors. That's my bread and butter, and I got to work with some amazing ones on '12 Years'.

If I have enough ego to say I'm a writer, a director, a producer, and an actor, I should have the energy and the knowledge to write a scene for this great actor named Henry Fonda and direct him in it and have it work.

I love working with great actors.

And I taught acting for years, and without knowing it that was the real thing that started bending me toward directing.

I like working with actresses, and I like women a lot, not for obvious reasons, but just in that that there's so much about what they bring to the scene that keeps it so interesting. Their instincts are so different, and they never explain them to you.