Albert Brooks Quotes

Film, for me, is in two stages. One is when I write the script more or less on my own - that's the nice bit. And then comes for me the unpleasant bit when they all go off, 100 people - actors and camera people and film and sound - and I stay away. When they go into the editing room, I come in again, and that's the bit I like.

When I'm working on the scripts or working with the other actors or rehearsing with the director, and when the director is cutting the movie, and we've shot the scene, the director is not looking at the visual effects.

I have no control over a film. I don't know what will be left on the cutting floor.

What you write on the page has nothing to do with when you're on set. When you're on set, it has nothing to do with when you're in the editing room. And when you're in the editing room, it has nothing to do with the final movie. You just have to let it go.

Editing is the only process. The shooting is the pleasant work. The editing makes the movie, so I spend all my life in editing.

A lot of directors don't really like actors.

Editing is where movies are made or broken. Many a film has been saved and many a film has been ruined in the editing room.

Sometimes, rehearsals are not worth it if you do not have an accurate cast, and that is one of the most difficult parts about a film.

The bottom line is that your performance is made in the editing room.

You have to understand that crew members make movies so they're seeing a lot of actors all the time in their career acting.

Honestly, I want to do films. I want to make that move from actor to producer, like Will Smith.

A movie is a filmed rehearsal in a way. The audience doesn't know that because you're taking out the things that don't work. There's no comparison to the theater because it's live. But making a movie is just as challenging and exciting, I find. A movie is pure process. The theater is the result of process.

As a director, your work is finished only when it's on the screen. But I will always be an actor who occasionally directs. And no, I have no interest in directing myself. I wouldn't be able to concentrate on both jobs at once.

I'm in awe of directors like the Coen brothers who can shoot their script and edit it, and that's the movie. They're not discovering the movie in postproduction. They're editing the script they shot.

I don't know - I haven't seen any of my movies after I finish them. I leave the editing room; I don't go back.

The great thing about stage is that you have more control. The stage is yours. The time is yours. Film is really the editor's medium.

David and I got cut out the editing process on that. We were able to affect it more than not. We sent in our notes, we were able to see cuts. We weren't allowed to see dailies and we weren't allowed to sit in the editing room and just work.

I realized the exciting place was behind the camera with the producer, director and so on.

All I know is movies; I went to school, but movies are my reference point for everything. I figured I'd have to P.A. or intern in the art department. Because the filmmaking process is so many people creating to make one piece of magic, so I've always wanted to be involved. With the acting, I doubted it.

If you're a movie actor, you're on your own - you cannot control the stage. The director controls it.

You could get in rehearsals, pre-production, anything that would actually contribute to the understanding of how a film gets made. I actually find those things increase people's interest in a movie and like that better than worrying about showing the tricks behind the curtain.

To come into my world, I've got some M&Ms and some potato chips, and I'm asking you to move furniture. We're making a movie. We're making it like we're putting on a play.

There's editing, and scripts to read and edit, and casting, and all the elements of production that just sort of take up the normal downtime that you would have as an actor. So there's not a lot of that for me.

The director took my face in his hands and asked me to show him my teeth, as with a horse. This happened on a Wednesday, and by the following Monday I was shooting.

I spent about a year and a half doing technical post work on 'The Fountain'. Although I do like the process, I think my favorite part of filmmaking is the actors.