Brett Gelman Quotes

If there's an opportunity to tell a story through acting or directing or cinematography or a book, I will embrace that opportunity.

I do like the idea of being an auteur in the sense of writing and being in your own stuff.

I wrote stories from the time I was a little girl, but I didn't want to be a writer. I wanted to be an actress. I didn't realize then that it's the same impulse. It's make-believe. It's performance.

Acting is probably what I'm best at, but there are certain stories kind of rattling around in my head that I like the idea of developing over time.

Something that I really enjoy doing is creating and being a part of very different characters and very different projects.

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 always enjoyed writing. I did playlets in high school, I did radio shows in college. That's one of the reasons I went down to Second City, because you could do acting and writing.

Acting is always at the core of my life, but I'm also excited about producing. I'm excited about directing, and I have a life in the filmmaking world, and so I want to explore all aspects of it, not just the acting, but acting is the root.

Since I was a child, I've liked telling stories. Maybe because my father's a director, I grew up loving stories. I'm not good at spinning them at a dinner table because I do go on a bit, but I love writing them, and directing is just a way of editing the story.

I want to do films I can relate to emotionally.

I think I'm drawn to films more as a director with a directorial mind even as an actor. I make movies to make the films, not to act.

A great screenplay makes everybody step up to the bar and deliver.

Acting is my first focus, but at the core, I'm a storyteller, and however that comes out is fine with me.

I always wanted to be a film-maker when I was younger, not an actor. I was an eight-year-old who dreamed of being a writer on 'The Simpsons,' which was a weird dream to have. But I started taking acting classes as a way to learn how to direct actors and I sort of fell in love with it.

Directing is something I've sort of always felt like I'd like to do at one point, and I thought the best way to start it is to write something myself or with someone and I'd go from there. My own material.

As a kid, I was just writing scripts and taking whatever film classes I could in college.

I've been interested in the writing/directing thing and really fell into acting by complete accident.

I would be very happy doing movies. I love to work and I think I'm a little different.

What I'm trying to do is find either existing properties or come up with properties or angles or stories which will create music drama. It's my obsession and most of all I would like to remain working in theatre. I think it's very much alive.

I want to write and direct and kind of do my own thing.

If I've got a script, you think I'll go to Hollywood to get money? I was bored with the people around me, so I just created my own movie, my own character. I'm the story of my own movie, and you know what? My movie is going to be better.

If I have a long period of time away from acting, I tend to write.

I want to do stuff like 'Lady Bird.' I want people to say, 'She told amazing stories.'

I enjoy being an actor in my own movies.

You can't just express yourself and it becomes a movie. You have to get beyond that.