David Cronenberg Quotes

Casting is everything. I put a huge amount of work into casting, and consistently across my career, I am most proud of my bold choices I made in casting.

A director should cast a person who fits into their script.

A film is a chain of very difficult decisions, and I think one of them is to choose an accurate cast.

Bill Murray, we've got to get people worthy to be on the screen with him, as opposed to just a bunch of random… with no disrespect… but a bunch of random local actors.

Casting a film is to me one of the most important things next to the writing. If you cast it properly everything takes place very easily. If you cast it improperly you're fighting an uphill battle.

The thing about many celebrities - not all - is that they're fantastic actors. If we've created a really juicy role, it just feels like a fantastic actor should be playing the part. If it's a long enough part, we consider anyone. If it's a single episode, we don't usually let a single actor on. Because that' s just stunting.

Why do I use the same actors in different movies? One of the things I really stress in casting is I need to find someone who is suitable for the role in the movie. That's always the main reason.

You can write and write, but if you don't have someone who can nail that character, it's never going to live.

You need to learn that, unless your lead character is written in a way that one of the 20 movie stars want to play him, your movie will not get made.

Certain subjects are best done with stars. Certain subjects like 'Alai Payuthe' are done with non-stars. In such films, stars are a burden.

When 'The Lighthouse,' bizarrely, became the film that people wanted to greenlight, it was really clear that those were the only two people to play the roles. And I knew that they would want to do it.

I like interesting casting, and casting people who you think might be slightly different in parts.

I am very filmmaker oriented, as a producer. I think the most important thing is that you have to really choose the players carefully.

I relieve myself from the rigours of directing by casting the movie correctly.

Casting is so important, with any film you do. You have to get actors that you believe will fulfill the promise of the characters that are on the page.

I worked in casting for about five years before I became a director, and that taught me a huge amount because you never actually will see the character walk through the door - and if you do, then you have to be slightly suspicious of that.

I don't believe a role can be written keeping in mind some actor. Even if such roles exist, I don't pick them because I generally choose roles that I think will suit my image.

For most actors, it is the script that chooses them and not the other way around.

When you do a film with somebody who's my age - which is always the role of a mother or a grandmother - despite of well-defined characters, you don't get to play a very large part as the main leads get prominence.

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

I don't normally think of a specific actor. I concentrate on the character, and then when we get into pre-production, that's how names come up.

Radha Krishna Sir, the director of 'Jil,' had seen 'Madras Cafe' and liked my acting in it. He wanted a performer and so got me on board.

In the case of 'Thor,' it was just casting the best people for the part. Ken Branagh had the idea to cast Idris Elba as Heimdall, and we didn't blink at that chance to do it.

Before I was cast for 'Brothers,' we all knew that Karan Johar was looking for an actress for to play a mother's role. I never thought that he would think of casting me.

Certain scripts require an ensemble cast. I'm absolutely fine with that. I will not deprive myself of the chance to be part of a good film because of insecurities or fear of losing my market. But my role must be well-defined.