Chiwetel Ejiofor Quotes

The director is the ultimate creative arbiter of what's going to happen. And as a director myself, you really appreciate collaborating with people who are trying to help you find what you need and what you want.

Some of my best experiences are with writer/directors. Guy Ritchie is one. I feel they have a clearer view of what they want to do. They haven't got to try and interpret someone's writing; it's all theirs. I really admire that.

I've found that the more experts you have on a movie, the less control the director has.

Writing and directing your own film, for me, has been the best experience of my life.

Actors should never be important. Only directors should have power and place.

Being on set is difficult for the writer. Your job is done, and you have to step back and hand it over to the director.

The Weinsteins believe in test screenings. I don't. I don't think good films are made that way. Call me crazy, but I'd like to think you need a singular vision to make good art.

But at the same time, never having final cut before, I really learned an interesting thing for any studio executive who is reading this: that if a director has final cut, it's actually easier and more interesting to listen to notes.

The director is the only person who knows what the film is about.

You seldom get that in film where you're lucky if you get any say at all in the final cut.

Making a movie and not directing the little moments is like drinking a soda and leaving the little slurp puddle for someone else.

I've already felt that I want to direct. Being an executive producer is like the best job in the world because you make all these executive decisions and then you leave the money to other people. You don't have to be on set and counting beans.

The director is the channel through which a motion picture reaches the screen.

That's the thing about making a movie: You never finish editing. They just take it away from you.

There is an isolated experience to being a director. It's very communal because there's a crew, but it's only you. You're the one on the hook.

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.

And my first film was Carnal Knowledge, another amazing experience, largely because of Mike Nichols, who would tell me you can't do anything wrong because you're doing everything right.

With a film, you try to keep your vision in it. I think with 'The American' and 'Control' I managed to do that.

I just wanted to do this all Australian film and we didn't want to give creative control to overseas 'cause whoever comes on my sets, whether you're sweeping the floor or an actor, it doesn't matter who comes up with the ideas, it's a collaboration.

'Frances Ha' is the closest final product to what I had in my head of any movie I've made. I'm not entirely even sure why that is.

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

If Steven Spielberg brought me a movie four hours long and said, 'It has to go out this way,' I guarantee you that's the way it would go out.

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

I think there's a tendency with actor/directors to imagine themselves playing every part and trying to get people to follow their rhythm, their tempo, their pace. I've learned now to just love being at the center of this creative swirl.

You can have a wonderful time doing a movie and believe in it completely, and then you see the final product, and it doesn't look anything like what you thought it was going to.