Miguel Sapochnik Quotes

'Do the Right Thing' was like the first film where I really felt comfortable working with actors.

I hooked up with director Jacques Audiard for this film called 'Rust & Bone' with Marion Cotillard. I loved that experience so much I'm truly sad that it's over!

With films, you completely immerse yourself in a character, get into who they are, live it and then release it.

Maybe I'm a better actor when I know there's going to be an older woman involved.

I love working with the actors eye-to-eye. I think something gets lost in translation, not only through a monitor, but when you leave the area where the actual scene is taking place.

My favorite part of the whole filmmaking process is working with a fantastic cinematographer, a fantastic actor or actors, and then just creating emotions and stories. I get so excited by that. That's the part I'm utterly addicted to.

Henry Fonda gave me a spanking during a scene in Spencer's Mountain.

I love directing scenes that I'm not in because suddenly I really feel like a filmmaker which is a different thing.

On so many levels, acting in film and TV is so much the sum of its parts, and somewhere in there, there's an alchemical thing that makes something happen or not - that makes something connect or not. Now, of course you want to make work that people see, but the enjoyment I get out of acting is playing characters.

It's very difficult to judge relationships from the outside. You never know what happens in intimate moments with two people to know why they really support and love each other.

Cameron Crowe can write dialogue and shoot it with warmth and humor like nobody else.

I have definitely been curious and involved in the process; even as a young actor. I was always looking at where the camera was, what story it was telling. And as my experience grew, I wanted to know even more.

I can remember the moment when I suddenly felt that the camera was a living partner. I suddenly felt this is art, and the camera is a co-operative living person. After that I was extremely happy to act in films.

I learned not to blink in a close-up or move your head at all, because if you did, they wouldn't use it.

Directing myself definitely made me a better actor. And, you know, I think actors have the best track record when they turn to directing. Writers, too. I knew how to direct actors because I've been there and I know what I like.

What you can do with visual effects is enhance the look of the character, but the actual integrity of the emotional performance and the way the character's facial expressions work, that is what is going to be created on the day with other actors and the director.

When I was shooting 'The Dark Knight,' I always felt like I was shooting an intimate drama for some reason. The scenes were all intimate, and they were always between a few individuals.

When you watch it, you're like, Wow. I look like that. But it doesn't feel like that at all. It was about communicating with Gale Harold and getting across what I wanted to say about the character.

It's always weird doing love scenes. And the thing is, you can't really photograph two people kissing naturally, because then you wouldn't be able to see anything.

I only worked on Men of Honor for three weeks, but I walked away with so much. Because Bob is the kind of actor who gives you the opportunity to really go there. And we really had to go there. I mean, we were both playing drunks.

Over the years with movies, I've given directors notes.

Raft told me how to walk with him in a scene: We'd start off in a long shot normal, and about the time we got together in a close-up, I'd be bending my knees so I'd be shorter.

When you act, you want to emote and think in that language. I don't enjoy the process of doing a film in a language I am not good with.

Directing is literally what I've always wanted to do, ever since I was a kid. So I love the career I've built behind the camera.

We knew that for E.T. to feel real, you had to have some connection to his eyes.