Paul Wesley Quotes

I like a lot of takes. I just go on until the actors get it right.

I don't find it hard to direct myself. I can easily think of me as a horrible performer or a good performer. I work with actors who cannot stand watching or looking at themselves, which is not my case. I can have an eye and perspective on whether I'm terrible or good enough for me.

Once you're on the set and shooting, it's all just cinema. You have actors and cameras.

When you're an actor, you often feel victimized - you see the end result, 'Oh, they didn't use this take; they didn't use that take. How come?' There's no 'How come?' with the director. There's only one person to look at. Walk over to the mirror if you want to know why. But I prefer that.

Sometimes I'll be watching a movie then think to myself that I could do a better job.

After I directed, when I went back to being an actor, I was like, 'God, this is the life!' Because you only have to concentrate on one thing.

When I direct and have to look at filmed scenes of myself, I suck.

I don't look at myself as one of the best pitchers in the world.

I don't think I know enough about acting to direct. You need to be a slight megalomaniac, not where you want to take over the world, but where you want to make every single decision and the buck stops with you. It's an awful lot of stress.

When I was little, I put on plays for my family at Sunday dinner, and I would direct them and have all my cousins, my brother, and my best friends in it. I was a very imaginative and theatrical child and wasn't afraid of being in front of a camera. It was like make-believe to me.

The only players I hurt with my words are the ones who have an inflated opinion of their ability. I can't worry about that.

I've always been a bit of a self-doubter. I think a lot of actors are.

Knowing the strike zone is very important, but I think the first thing is knowing yourself, knowing what things you do well.

I still have my talent to produce and direct.

As a director, your work is finished only when it's on the screen. But I will always be an actor who occasionally directs. And no, I have no interest in directing myself. I wouldn't be able to concentrate on both jobs at once.

I don't think I could do what Woody Allen or Clint Eastwood or Ben Stiller do, where they direct a movie and they star in it. I would just be like, 'Oh, I don't even want to look at my face.'

I have the most fun writing and directing. And I always choose myself as the lead actor.

When you're an actor in grade school, high school, college, whatever, you start to realize what you're really good at, what you're kinda good at, what you're okay at, and you start to compartmentalize. But if you know yourself and what you're capable of, it's just a matter of opportunity.

Normally I sit there in the films really hating watching myself. Loving watching the films, hating watching myself.

It's a bit embarrassing watching myself, but I couldn't get someone else to play me, that would've been stupid.

I appreciate my role as an actor much more after I direct because it's just easier.

When you're acting and directing, you're standing there acting with another actor, and you're trying to do your performance, and at the same time you're watching their performance, and making sure the lights are in the right place, and if the person is wearing the right wardrobe. All these things are going on in your head.

I don't storyboard, and I don't really shot list. I let the shots be determined by how the actors and I figure out the blocking in a scene, and then from there, we cover it.

I'm not sure I'd hire myself in anything. I certainly couldn't be an actor. That would be terrible. For everyone.

Actors shouldn't be scared. Don't get scared on film.