Ang Lee Quotes

I take a script and mull over it and underline the bits I want to emphasize. When I go to the set, I know exactly what I want to do.

I have no idea what makes a director believe in me that I can sell these kind of roles.

People who do not have funny in them are not funny when they read funny lines. Sorry. Just doesn't work that way. Seriously, this is the biggest rule of all. You live and die with your casting decisions. Your actors are the heart and soul of the whole thing. Without brilliant actors, you will not have a brilliant film.

Matching character and actor is what a good director does.

Creating a role is an interesting thing - each show or each situation is different.

Not one role that I've played has been written specifically for me.

Casting is storytelling.

I think one of the biggest jobs of being a director is getting the casting right.

I think Johnny Depp could play just about any role - I'd love to see what he would do with the Red Queen!

When I do the roles, when I'm in the room and auditioning, I'll ask the director if they're cool with me adding stuff, or just improvising while we're doing it. And I would say, like, 90 percent of the time, they say, 'Absolutely.'

I'm the sort of actor who likes to talk about what we're going to do.

I like playing off strong actors, whether it's Benedict Cumberbatch or Dominic Cooper. Also I'm a hopeless romantic, so I'm fascinated by relationships.

I think the most important thing for an actor is reading the script and trying to figure out if you can play that character well. The last thing on my mind is if the director made good movies previously. It's not my job to know if that director's last movie was any good - it's my job to know if I can play the role.

I always used to say, as a director, that I could make anybody good in a movie if you found the right part. It all comes down to casting.

When you are an actor, you have to stay inside this world, but when you are with the crew, on the outside, you are in the dirt, working through all the issues. It's just a different way of working, and I think I preferred it.

I'm an actor. I'll take a lead if it's offered. The really good actors can fill a character, no matter what the role is. A good leading man is a character actor; a good character actor can be a leading man.

When I played Leonardo DiCaprio's mother, they liked that Leo had very hooded eyes and a rounded nose with a ball. They said, They look like they could be mother and son.

I am really not of the school of naturalism. I like style, and you can use more style in theater than in film roles. I love to sink my teeth into a part.

I would love to play Bobby in 'Company.' Also, I would love to play George in 'Sunday.'

When you cast, you can't cast only visually; you have to cast emotionally, too.

Part of an actor's job, in my opinion, is adjust to the characteristics of the director and try to understand to how he tries to work.

When I hire actors I believe in their abilities.

I work a lot; I love to compose, ponder, and take notes when preparing for a role. I cut all the scenes, collate the images, form the character and shape its personality, then I make meticulous notes and transcribe each scene on my notebook.

I really don't know what I'm doing... I don't. It's terrible. I go in there and I learn how to be like the character and do the best I can, and that's all I really do.

What I love to do requires portraying different characters, and you have to separate your life from the role.