Sean Penn Quotes

As a director, you try to find what is creative.

My job is to create a film, where we are capturing truth in performances.

Directing, editing, and everything about filmmaking has definitely changed me as an actor.

I've been writing and wanting to direct for a long time.

Directing is a tremendous art.

I definitely in filmmaking more and more find writing and directing a means to harvest material for editing. It's all about editing.

I love filmmaking, and I love the process. And I would rather do nothing else. It's a privilege to be able to paint such big pictures, so to speak.

You can't work in the movies. Movies are all about lighting. Very few filmmakers will concentrate on the story. You get very little rehearsal time, so anything you do onscreen is a kind of speed painting.

Having learnt my basics in theatre, I always feel film is a collaborative effort. If you do your part well and help the person in front of you in realising his or her potential, the film invariably comes out good.

I think you cannot make films without choosing everything.

I'd made these experimental films but I thought the major chore of a filmmaker was to relate to actors.

Directing was easy for me because I was a writer director and did all my directing when I wrote the screenplay.

A lot of the films now are more focused on the visuals than on the actors. I think all directors should go to drama school.

It's sort of one ongoing process where writing ends and directing starts.

Visual elements are, of course, the director's job.

I approach film no differently than I approach a role. I want to make sure the movie is right, the characters are right, I can really bring something to it as a visionary, a storyteller. It's great to point a camera, but can you tell a story?

I've got one idea I want to do for a film and you know I just enjoy myself doing bits and pieces.

For me, the most important thing is the writing - and certainly the director. But if the writing isn't there, it doesn't matter who the director is!

I love the process of making a movie so much as an actor that I can only imagine I would love the process of being the director.

I prefer directing to acting. There is huge freedom that comes from being behind the camera. It brings a lot of responsibilities as well but is intensely rewarding.

I love the work that goes into making a movie and creating a different world. It is a wholesome experience.

I really, really loved making 'This Is My Life' and 'Now and Then.'

I love directing, and I will direct myself a few times.

I learned a lot about filmmaking from my dad. Starting when I was a child, I would listen to my dad as an actor, writer, director and producer talking about films - you know what the treatment would be in the opening, in the middle, and in the ending.

I used to make short films even as a kid. I used to have a camera and play around with it. So, I was always interested in the process and telling stories. I've always wanted to direct.