Michael Sheen Quotes

By the first week of shooting, you know exactly where your film is heading based on the psychology of your director.

Film is a collaborative process, absolutely, but I am a control freak.

Tim also has enough confidence so that it always looks like a Tim Burton film, but it really is collaborative. You're allowed to do it your way but of course he's always going to choose his way.

You know as a director what you want, but the film is smarter than you, the film says no, the film says there's something more here.

Movies are collaborative, and that's part of what makes it a great experience. They're different from a lot of other art forms, but also it makes it seem like when you see the final product, you go, 'I wouldn't have done that. I wouldn't have done this.'

Frankly speaking, it's only the script that matters to me the most. If I like the script, then I just commit to myself and go ahead with it. But I also look at the commitment and confidence of the director of the film because it's him who will shape the film.

I think I read films having grown up around the pre-production and post-production aspect of the filmmaking medium, a lot more than most young people who are in acting would have experienced. I do think about scripts in a different way. I can't just read a script as an actor. I don't know how to do that.

The director is the only person on the set who has seen the film. Your job as a director is to show up every day and know where everything will fit into the film.

It's a roll of the dice in the movie business. I mean, every single movie is a roll of the dice. Any movie on paper could look like it's going to be fantastic. You know what I mean?

All these directors, and I would include the Coen brothers and Quentin, have a very unique vision of what they want. They listen to ideas and make people feel like everyone is making the film.

When I can see things through the lens of the director, it's like being able to see the whole puzzle - it's not just about my role, but the whole script.

Although filmmaking is collaborative and involves trust, ultimately it is the director who holds the whole picture together in their head.

Studios never put pressure. They know the kind of films I want to make.

I'm just trying to find a good project. Work with a good director, someone I really admire. Find a good role.

A film goes through so many hands, that by the time it's done, it might not resemble what you thought you were making.

It's possible for me to make a bad movie out of a good script, but I can't make a good movie from a bad script.

When I did 'Stardust,' I was fighting the studio for things I believed were right.

Sometimes we'll walk into a set, and I'll think, 'Oh, this film doesn't look like this.' You know, 'cause I read the script, and I saw it in my head in some other way. Which is a lot like what happens when they're writing a movie that's based on a book - I'm like, 'Ah! He doesn't have a beard.' You have these visions in your head about it.

I'm not signing on to direct 'Black Panther.' I think I'll just say we had different ideas about what the story would be. Marvel has a certain way of doing things, and I think they're fantastic, and a lot of people love what they do. I loved that they reached out to me.

A lot of directors don't really like actors.

I have done theatre, and I enjoy the process of smaller films a lot more. When I do such films, there are certain things which I get to do which are untapped. The scenes give me the liberty to play and mould the character in accordance to the director's mindset.

My gaze is very different from that of Ekta Kapoor's, and that is quite visible in those two films - 'Ragini MMS 2' and 'Jism 2.'

An actor can never voice his opinion through films. All an actor does is convey what the director and writer want to say. You are a mouthpiece of their ideas. Your ideas reflect only in your choice of movies.

I have a problem with writer/directors, personal. I can't work well with both of them on the set, if both of them are giving instructions. Writers tend to be in love with what they wrote. You can't always translate the words into the meaning, sometimes the meaning is better served without the words, difficult to make a writer to try to understand that. It gets, sometimes, tense.

I'm not accustomed to doing films without seeing the script. There are certain people that are auteurs, and you accept them regardless of whether you see a script or not. But Spielberg is not an auteur.