Sam Levinson Quotes

There are a lot of visual marks that have to be hit, and lines that need to be said in a right way - so there wasn't really any improvisation on the set when it came to the bulk of the script.

As a director, you have to know what actors are doing. You're the one telling them what to do. The actors' job is to come prepared to the set, but sometimes, if they're beginning actors or people who are non-actors, you have to teach them how to act.

My experience has been that actors always want to be directed.

It's eighty percent script and twenty percent you get great actors. There's nothing else to it.

For any role, I pretty much always go to the script, first and foremost.

I like a lot of takes. I just go on until the actors get it right.

It's sort of the most important thing for acting, is to listen to the person you're dealing with.

Good acting is about being as natural and calm as possible. These days producers have such definite ideas that you have to be prepared to do whatever they ask.

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

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.

Robert De Niro taught me how to listen, and how to be part of the conversation. It's not just about reading your lines and saying what's in the script; you have to understand your character, along with the other characters so that you can always respond.

That's how I like to do it with actors, have them really go for it and I'll tell them when it's too much. It's always easier to bring it back then to push it further.

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

I don't usually direct actors in the classic sense of that word. Instead, I try to remind the characters before the shoot what's going on in a very simple way. I then watch them, their inventions as actors, approving or not approving what they're doing.

To be able to work with actors who are doing such good work, not only makes it easier for you, but it makes you better.

In acting there's two different things: You're either pitching in a scene, or you're catching.

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.

If a scene is three pages long, quite often people break it up and do a page, say 'cut' then move on to the next bit, they do it in cuts. I don't really like doing that; I like to go through it all in one organic run, then give notes afterward. A little bit more like theater.

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'm a huge fan of actors, and I love when people find moments and a scene works. There's nothing more that I love than to go over to another actor and say, 'Yeah! You just rocked that one, baby!'

If you're working opposite an actor who can act, then all you have to do is listen and respond.

Actors always feel more comfortable when there's an actor directing, in terms of vocabulary and breaking down a scene.

A lot of actors, we aren't that special; you get a well-written scene, and it's virtually actor-proof.

I didn't know that I could act, but my friend told me, 'Before you do directing, maybe you should try acting. It would be better for you. When you know how to act, it would help you be a better director.' So I was like, Oh, maybe, okay, maybe I'll try.

You have to run, an awful lot, on instinct. Even on 'Veep,' it's not like you get weeks of rehearsal to break out what's going on in the scenes.