Alex Timbers Quotes

I do like directing other people's material.

A lot of performing instincts are involved in the business of direction, but so is analysis and having a sense of literature.

I like writing and directing. I enjoy telling stories, and I think it's born in a comedian to end up directing.

I don't really think about roles - "dream roles." It's always about who's gonna be the person on the screen or who's gonna be the person on the stage and who's gonna direct it and put it all together.

Tonight I am going to defecate on stage because I think that is the only way to express the nature of my soul according to rock and roll.

The music's rehearsed a lot. All people think about is, they think, in rock 'n' roll, they get the music off right and they think it's okay standing, looking macho. Well, it's not. That's boring. If you want to be a performer you've got to do a lot more work than that.

I think when you make a movie, one of your main focuses as a director is to inspire everyone else to give their best. Like manipulation.

I play these [folk acoustic] concerts and I ask myself, 'Would you come see me tonight?' - and I'd have to answer truthfully, 'No, I wouldn't come. I'd rather be doin' something else, really I would. That something else is rock... The words are pictures, and the rock's gonna help me flesh out the colors of the pictures. (1965)

I guess I probably see myself as a director. If I had to choose, I think that that's the aspect of the process that I'm most excited by.

I love film so much. I think theatre will definitely be there for me as well, but for now I'd like to do more films.

I always like to think of the audience when I am directing. Because I am the audience.

I liked rock music, I kind of moved into that sphere, somehow thinking that somewhere along the line I'd be able to put the two together. And I suppose I very nearly did with the Ziggy character.

You're always on duty because you're in a constant state of observation. That's one of the challenges of being a comedian. I think one of the other challenges is that, whether we like it or not, it's a profession that requires failure. It doesn't just encourage failure. It requires it because it's all trial and error. You need to know what doesn't work to know what works.

I think directing is part play, part work, not just all work, because I think you always have to play. I think that's ultimately why I got into making movies, is because I love to play.

There's something therapeutic about connecting with an audience - when there's something really sort of odd or silly that you think is funny, and conveying it to an audience.

I think directing is a huge responsibility and it's not something where you can just be like, "Yeah, sure, I'll give it a go!" I think it's something you really need to focus on, and put a lot of effort and attention into.

Now and then when I get an idea for a picture, I think, how ordinary. Why paint that old rock? Why not go for a walk instead? But then I realise that to someone else it may not seem so ordinary.

Stand-up is a real art form in itself and one that I really think to be good at you have to devote your entire life to. It's the really, really good ones that end up getting to do the things that I like to do: movies, TV shows, and stuff like that. It's a really hard gig and it just never called to me.

I'd say that directing is in my heart. And that's where my focus is, like a laser beam. That's what I've been studying for a long time, and I think that everything that I've done before has contributed to the development of my craft as a director.

I think that I have a pretty varied taste in music I think. And it is primarily rock music big umbrella that I am, I am not into hip-hop. But, I do like both.

I think in some ways - only in some ways - but in some ways, rock and roll has let me down. It really doesn't leave you a way to grow old gracefully and continue to work.

I think stand-up comedy is this - it's this kind of indulgence and narcissism.

Rock 'n' roll is meant to entertain. Hippie folk singers are supposed to be singing about leftist views, but I don't think rock 'n' roll was ever that way. I don't remember the early rock 'n' rollers ever expressing any political views.

I'm not sure I'll find acting satisfying creatively forever. If you get the good roles, it's great - if you have the freedom to choose your projects and not just do anything and everything. But I'd love to artistically commit to a project from beginning to end, which I think you can only do as a writer or director.

To make what you have in your head, I think that's what directing is.