Jane Campion Quotes

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.

I think of myself as a problem-solver. I want to go in and help the director and the writer to get the best they can out of the text they're working with.

You can't fix a bad script after you start shooting. The problems on the page only get bigger as they move to the big screen.

The first and primary requirement for me in a director that I'd want to work with is: do they love writing, and do they love the collaboration process with writers?

All we did in Alabama was have a read through with the script, but there was, 'No, well, it needs more. You've got to do this, Albert. You've got to do that, Jessica.' It didn't feel like that at all.

Most development doesn't make it to series. So you want the writer and director to have a really good experience with development because, if it doesn't work out, you want to work with them again. You have to know their work really well, know the drafts really well, and when you give notes, you need to have really thought them through.

Whether I'm writing the script, or someone else writes the initial draft, I'm always an actor's director first. I always try to listen to them a lot and try to put their voices into their character.

I had a tough time 12 years ago getting 'Driving Miss Daisy' off the ground. Today, it would be impossible.

The film business has so many twists and turns that it's a miracle any film gets made.

The problems I have with a flawed script are always revealed in the editing room.

I was hired to do this one great script called 'Cap'n Ricky' and that project is up in the air at the moment.

When you have a good script you're almost in more trouble than when you have a terrible script.

Schepisi is the sort of director who could, would, and frequently did phone me whenever he came across a textual problem.

Part of what I love about producing is to get to work with writers.

Finding a good script is really difficult and the scariest thing of all is when they say about a script that's not right, "we will fix it.." It's like before you get on the Titanic and you see a big hole. In process, it's too late.

It's natural for any actor that segues into directing to be an actor's director. You know how to relate to the actors.

I'm reteaming with the producers of 'Twilight' on an awesome script. It's very serious, dramatic and different for me. I'm excited to see what's next. I love all aspects of film and all genres.

I don't stay in my trailer. I like to sit in video village, probably to the annoyance of some producers and directors, because they really love to talk about actors, and they can't in front of me.

Or certainly I would need time - which I would love to have but there almost never is on a film - to just spend a week with a roomful of guys laying down these patterns.

David was the kind of guy who was totally supportive of the actors and instructed the writing staff to trust the actor's instincts, since after all, it's the actors playing the character.

As an actor, I love working with directors. As much as I love working with other actors.

I have a producing partner named Stephen Hamel, and we've been trying to generate material.

It doesn't help anybody to put out a bad script.

I was supposed to do a film with Bill Shatner called 'Free Enterprise 2.' They were calling me into wardrobe, and they said they are holding off for a while. Then the next thing I knew... either the money dropped out, or the producer ran off with the money. I think it's the second story that's true.

The green-light meeting, when I first started at Paramount, would consist of maybe three or four of us in a room. Perhaps two or three of us would have read the script under discussion.