Richard Ayoade Quotes

I don't like directors that just say, Stand there and now do this.

I like to be involved with the scriptwriter early on, helping shape the story, and working out how the story can be told directorially.

I structure the scripts and work on them on films and work on scenes with writers and but I haven't written a script myself, I really respect what they do and I'm fortunate I get to work with people that I really enjoy working with and we all kind of spitball and work together on these things, but I haven't written a script yet.

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?

Personally, I read a lot of scripts.

Most of the film directors expect their actors to want to work fast.

People often argue about this. Obviously one of the skills in performance is acting, and you can't expect every Romeo to really be in love with their Juliet!

I'm not really a director for hire. You read these scripts and go, 'This is a really great script, but Paul Greengrass would make this so much better than me.' I usually say, 'I know who would be good for this. It's not me.'

As an actor all we want to do is act and play people.

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.

The actor cannot afford to look only to his own life for all his material nor pull strictly from his own experience to find his acting choices and feelings.

Writing and directing might be a red herring, and really I'm just re-examining what it is to act, to do it well and do it properly.

My greatest strength as an actor is that I follow my director's brief completely. The film is always the director's visual baby.

I don't want to write any more screenplays, I'll tell you that right now. It's a waste of time. You've got too many people who think they have the answer to a good screenplay and they don't. No one knows.

There are a lot of times that if a detail in a scene or a beat, feels unnatural, they'll allow me to explore another direction to go until we're all comfortable with what we are doing.

With more time I like to see the actors find something of their own places, so I can get their own ideas before I put mine in. Given they have a better idea more often enough.

Sometimes in theater, they'll talk about your character a lot before you enter, but that rarely happens in television.

I think I would like directing. I really like coming at the work that way.

I feel that being an actor is a front-row seat into seeing how everybody else makes their movies. Basically, being in the trenches for ten years is like a college-level course in filmmaking if not more. It feels like every director I work with and every set that I visit as an actor, I see someone else's definition of filmmaking.

Good actors are always looking for props. They're looking for behavior. It makes it a lot easier. You're not solely dependent of what's coming out of your mouth. You're also less self-conscious, less aware of the camera.

Rehearsal for film is tough. Until the camera's there, everything changes.

There are many great writers out there and, actually, great scripts. The problem is - and this is what I've always felt, even when I got out of school and started reading scripts - the really smart, character-driven stuff tends to be smaller films, and they just don't get made.

I like scripts. I spend a lot of time writing them.

I take time to write my script, if I have more scripts, I will make more movies.

After completing 'Aadum Koothu,' I was assigned to act with Cheran again for 'Mayakkannadi.' I learnt a lot working with him.