David Morse Quotes

The key to making good movies is to pay attention to the transition between scenes.

Filming is repetition and many takes.

When on the set of a film, you have to play natural for entire scenes in a very unnatural environment. You have to express emotions and interact with other actors and also use your voice.

It's a whole other way of working when you work in films: You know exactly the arc of your character.

You don't want to be the guy whose back's to the camera in the emotional part of the movie. So, you have to be aware of the camera movement and what the camera's doing.

I spent a long time working in the movies to figure out that kind of acting and also how to write and produce for the screen.

I shoot a lot of film - that's one of the things I try to do, and it's one of the things I learned how to do with Robert De Niro on 'Men of Honor.'

You don't really think about 3D when you're acting. As a director, you do.

I was a film-directing major at NYU. I'm still not sure why I became a directing major, when I was really an actor and a comedian, but there was something that drew me to doing that.

When I was an actor in some movies a long time ago, I was so curious about all the camera movements - why is the camera placed here, and why does it move like this? And why the set and the background, the color? It's a lot of questions for me to ask, because I was so interested, not only in acting, but also the whole process of filmmaking.

As an actor I want to do as many takes as I can. I wanna shoot the scene... or shoot the shot 'til they make me quit.

For a director, the most challenging scenes are the dialogue scenes.

Film and television is just a different technique in terms of how to approach the camera but basically the job is the same; but what you learn as a craft in theater, you can then learn to translate that into any mediums.

I think the approach of the character for us is the same in a silent movie as in a talking movie because we had balance, we had lines to learn.

In films people basically work for the camera, you know, and that's why actors can hate each other and not be speaking to each other and still look as if they're in love because really they're loving the camera loving them.

I'm still really interested in acting, I love film so much. It's definitely something I'm going to explore as well.

Any actor working a long time should know how a shot is set up, where to place themselves, how to handle the lines. I'm a member of the crew, like the best boy, the electrician. What I'm good at is making eyes at the camera.

I had such an amazing time filming 'Major Movie Star.' I loved everyone in the cast. They all brought their own spirit to the film, and I hope that is what will be seen on screen.

When I met David Green at film school he always used to offer free haircuts - he was kind of an artisan. In a lot of our films, he's constantly trying to give me weird looks.

I'm a student. I want to do better, and I want directors who can find the actress in me and be my teachers. I'm interested in the whole process of editing, post-production and direction.

Sometimes in a movie, the lines are so perfect.

No, I'm at full height, I'm in the studio, I can actually catch actors by the eye, it's fantastic.

What's great in theater is that you can sustain the arc of a character for a full three hours, whereas in film or TV, you have to create that arc in little pieces, and usually out of sequence.

Now, learning how to make a movie is something you can figure out in about an afternoon. The physics of it, the marks, the lights, etc. What's hard to do is to suspend your own feelings of self consciousness. The natural actors can do that; they can become part of a characterization and learn how to maintain it.

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