Ethan Hawke Quotes

James Caan told me at the end of filming 'Elf' that he had been waiting through the whole film for me to be funny - and I never was.

Making films is much more difficult than people imagine, and so the experience of actually directing them is not one I've ever relished.

Be able to take any job that gives you experience on a film. Don't just think that you have to be in one department or the other, because through working on one and seeing what other people do in the movie makes you realize what your role is if you become a costume designer.

A lot of people are going around saying, 'You won the Academy Award for such and such.' 'No. I didn't.' 'You didn't?' 'Well, you should have.'

People rise and fall to meet your level of expectations for them. If you express skepticism and doubt in others, they will return your lack of confidence with mediocrity. But if you believe in them and expect them to do well, they will go the extra mile trying to do their best.

It was a pleasure to have somebody else be the boss. It wouldn't have been nearly as much fun any other way. He's been around and made a lot of movies and he's a great straightforward person to work for. And it was a pleasure to see other people to pick up characters that you've sketched out loosely on paper and make them into something fascinating.

A good executive is one who makes people contentedly settle for less than they meant to get, in return for more than they meant to give.

He always believed that people live up or down to the amount of trust you put in them.

...if you expect people to try to do things your way, you're going to have to give some hints as to what that way is.

Usually people in the acting business end up both in front of and behind the camera. Working for so long in the business, I know how it works. It's not too much of a challenge; the challenge is making it all come together, being in charge of a huge team of people that you trust.

That's what I like about the movie business: you're always in contact with wonderful and interesting people.

Nobody wants a job where they don't have authority to go along with the responsibility. Quite the contrary. The more authority you give people, the better people you can attract, and the harder they're going to work, and the more loyal they are going to be.

Much has been given us, and much will rightfully be expected from us. We have duties to others and duties to ourselves; and we can shirk neither. We have become a great nation, forced by the fact of its greatness into relations with other nations of the earth, and we must behave as beseems a people with such responsibilities.

When you're the lead and on most of the call sheets, some people have expectations of you and whether you like it or not, you kind of set the tone.

Hire people inspired to achieve something big over people who demand something big before they feel inspired.

The true Church has never sounded out public expectations before launching her mission. Her leaders heard from God, they knew their Lord's will and did it. Their people followed them - sometimes to triumph, oftener to insults and public persecution - and their sufficient reward was the satisfaction of being right in a wrong world!

The only place where you can be a dictator and still be loved is on the movie set

Why would people have confidence in a female director when there are so few?

I look for people who have raw intelligence and a great work ethic and loyalty, and I can quickly identify people who have the right ingredients. But sometimes it is more difficult to get them to accept the fact that they can take on increasing responsibility. Oftentimes individuals will decide how far [they] go by how much work they're willing to put in and how quick they are to ask for help. Too many people have this deep-seated fear that if they ask for help, they will be thought less of.

If we treat people as who they can become, they will be inspired to rise to the level of our expectations.

I just want to make good movies. Honestly, the only difference for me with this stuff is that there is more people on the set.

Life operates by deserve. So, in leading people, learn to work with the people who deserve it, not the people who need it.

When you grow up in the [film] industry, the director is your father. You follow your father's lead, but you make your own way.

People would say 'Who is a leader?' A leader is a person that does the work. It's very simple. It's a personal choice for people who choose to put in their time and their commitment to do the work. It's a personal choice.

I always prefer to work in the studio. It isolates people from their environment. They become in a sense... symbolic of themselves. I often feel that people come to me to be photographed as they would go to a doctor or a fortune teller - to find out how they are.