Kirsten Dunst Quotes

You can't create chemistry. In fact, the chemistry between two actors is for people to see, sense, and judge. The only thing we can do as actors is to come on board individually because we feel the same kind of passion for a script and for a director to cast us because he feels that, as actors, we'll do justice to that part.

Let's put it this way, when I was casting, I cast Viggo first and then found someone who could play his wife, rather than the other way around. So for me he's still the lead character.

Starting with 'Thirteen,' my known technique is to cast the lead, then find someone with whom they have incredible chemistry.

I love to combine first-time actors with seasoned actors.

I've worked with Andre Techine lately and with a young unknown director on a short film. I choose my roles carefully.

I make decisions to do movies based on the cast. I'd just been working with Zach Galifianakis on 'The Hangover', and I was thinking, I've got to find something to do with this guy immediately.

I didn't know [director] Aaron Woodley at all, but I knew I wanted to be a part of [ The Entitled ].

[Tony Richardson ] just liked me, knew I was going to be what he wanted [in The Hotel New Hampshire], and that was the end of it. It was unbelievable.

I like to be cast well and then I like to be left alone. And good directors, that's generally what they do when they hire you because you have something that's useful to the part, and then they leave you alone. The times that I've run into trouble is when, very rare actually, but you get hired and then there's some sort of makeover involved.

When you have two people that good in a movie, I think it adds a class and a feeling of importance for other actors that they want to be involved.

When you work with a good actor, there is this natural rapport and chemistry that develops over time. That chemistry helps your characters come alive and makes the story of the film that much more convincing.

One thing I'm most proud of, in my movies, is that I think the performances are super-strong, but that's not all me. I think part of it is casting appropriately.

I think film is a director's medium and the good filmmakers that I like tell the darker stories. Therefore, I'm always inclined to follow people like David Cronenberg.

I think a good director can embrace any genre and it's the kind of thing where you always want to do something different. You always want to challenge yourself.

There are no good and bad movies, only good and bad directors

Although I could be wrong. If Roland Emmerich's thinking about doing that at some point, I'd be glad to don the long hair again. But sometimes you can just go a little bit further out with something you're only going to be doing for a short run

I would not have made any of my films or written scripts such as Taxi Driver had it not been for Ingmar Bergman, What he has left is a legacy greater than any other director.... I think the extraordinary thing that Bergman will be remembered for, other than his body of work, was that he probably did more than anyone to make cinema a medium of personal and introspective value.

I think around that time I met David [Gordon Green] or, well, we all met at Superbad and Judd [Apatow] said, 'I'm thinking about having him direct [ Knocked Up].' Sounded like a good idea.

Gary Ross one of those directors which lets you do what you need to do to become your character - he lets you try to do everything on your own when you're acting. Then at some points he would say, "Let's try this," or "Let's try that." Most of the time he just kind of let me try to just become my character on my own and it worked out really well.

It was very important to me to choose a director like Gary [Ross], whose instincts come from character, who's a storyteller, and who puts characters first.

I've had a couple opportunities where I've been on the other side of the audition process as a director.

More than ninety percent of directing a picture is the right casting

I always came away thinking "I'd like to see her more," you know? And then when [Parental Guidance] was ready to be cast, we thought - Bette [Midler]. So we called her.

There are some directors, lesser in confidence or skill, who make the actor feel very uncomfortable because you feel you're auditioning for them, every day, and that's a terrible feeling on the set.

You really get a feeling, when you're reading scripts, pretty quickly. Within 20 or 25 pages, you can get a sense of the part. I always think about whether I'm right for it and whether I can do it. If I don't think I'm right for it, it should go to somebody else.