John Wells Quotes

I'm really a director's actor. I rely heavily on a director.

Working with actors is something I've never done before. I find it tremendous. It's hard work.

As an actor, I love working with directors. As much as I love working with other actors.

As far as working with actors, I feel very comfortable working in that aspect of directing.

My acting experience has been a benefit. What I learned from directors is how to listen to and talk with actors. I know how they think and what they need.

I've spent most of my life trying to make actors comfortable, which I think is 90 percent of getting a good performance.

I don't know what directing actors is all about apart from just casting well and then shaping their performances a bit, you know.

I have realised I am a director's actor.

I can speak to actors in their terms. Knowing I was an actor, they relax. You can have the best shot in the world - but, at the center of it, you still need a good performance.

Actors, I think, are all the same. Both Korean actors and American actors are all very sensitive people, and they are all curious to know what the director thinks of them and how they are evaluated, and they try to satisfy the director. And they like it if you listen carefully to their opinions and accept them.

When I do film, I really take on roles and I take on characters.

As a director, I also get to sit and watch actors and learn from them in a way that I don't get to do when I'm just acting.

I'm definitely one of those actresses who comes to a set knowing how I want to do a scene, and I definitely love input from my directors and my writers.

As an actor, you're always at the service of somebody else's vision. In a play, it's more of the director's vision, and he or she's got their hands on you all the way up to opening night, and if it's a film, there are even more people.

An actor puts himself in the hands of a director. And the director's first responsibility, obviously, is to tell the story, but the smallest thing that's not true reads on the screen. So if a director sees that an actor is not believable, he needs to help him become believable.

I'd always dabbled in acting.

Know your lines; otherwise, have an open mind because you want to get lost in the moment. When you have talented actors and directors to work with, then it's pretty easy to do.

I think every actor would probably say that it's always a collaboration. And if you ask directors, they'll tell you that they expect the actors to bring something. They don't want to be thinking for everybody.

I am totally a director's actor.

The only thing that I can contribute as director is to work with the performers in a way that brings out the drama.

Acting is a funny job because you're always playing a hundred levels of pretend, but when you're working with great designers who end up doing a lot of that work for you, you can focus on the things you want to focus on.

Acting in a scene is easy.

I loved 'Les Miz' and 'Into the Woods' - I used to cast 'Into the Woods' with my friends, even if they'd never stepped on stage before.

I'm a director's actor and go by what they say.

Sometimes you can just have a dialogue with an actor beforehand and shape the performance then, but other actors need more guidance on the set.