Mads Mikkelsen Quotes

The first and primary requirement for me in a director that I'd want to work with is: do they love writing, and do they love the collaboration process with writers?

Tim Story is a fantastic director, and I'm so excited to get to work with him.

An actor can be as talented as another, but if he doesn't stick to what the director's intentions are, it all falls down. I adore working with actors.

Actors aren't stupid, mostly, and if there's a sensibility and an aesthetic that a director's going for, if you're aware of that too, you can do things to help that.

In many senses, 'Borgen' was a very democratic show. I was always invited to hear the writers' thoughts for the next episodes and allowed to comment on them.

When we are in pre-production, this is the best job in the world. Working 10 to 7, sitting around and brainstorming with the other writers, making things funnier and writing and rewriting scenes - that's as fun as it gets.

A lot of directors want to storyboard you, whereas the best way to get a performance out of an actor is a collaborative process where you listen to the actor's input.

Each director is different. Clint Eastwood and Chris Nolan are completely different, and I need to adjust to the story and character and the director and just my duty as an actor.

Most actors go, 'I read the script and fell in love with it'; I fall in love with the directors.

My approach to working in movies is to empower the director to have power over me and to really support his vision because he's the guy, at the end of the day, who's going to put it all together.

Schepisi is the sort of director who could, would, and frequently did phone me whenever he came across a textual problem.

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

We write and write and write until we think, 'If we have to shoot this script, we'll be happy, and it's going to be a great movie.' I meet with all the actors two weeks before, and I ask them, 'What lines don't work? What is uncomfortable for you? What jokes do you think aren't good? If you're not getting it, here's what the joke is.' You fix it.

I am completely a director's actor. If the director gives me the liberty and freedom, then I give my inputs. Otherwise, I just follow instructions.

As an actor, my No. 1 focus was to be on the same page with the writer, director, and producers.

I love working with a set designer because, in many respects, you meet the set designer before you meet the actors. So it's a chance for me as a director to figure out what I'm thinking and to explore how the space is going to actually be activated.

Every script always goes through rewrites so that everyone loves it.

I've gotten to work with people like Kristin Chenoweth and Chita Rivera... Seeing their process is so interesting. Seeing that these people aren't immortal - that they go through the same motions as we do and ask for feedback and break down scenes... They have to work, too, and that's really exciting to see.

It's important that the director and actor have good chemistry, and not just the actors.

Each actor, every single time you work with an actor, you have to come up with the language that's going to serve them. And that's what allows them to give the performance that you want to nurture inside of them and what you think they're capable of giving.

I am a director's actress in general - I depend a lot on them.

I don't care if it's Dr. Dre or Dr. Luke or Brian Eno. When you're in a studio and making music together, it becomes pretty apparent if you see eye to eye.

The way that I deal with actors as a director is I just talk to them forever before we even arrive on set.

One rule which applies to every role is that you have to surrender yourself to the director with an empty slate.

I would say the most important aspect of direction is that you, as a director, and your producer need to be on the same page, the same line of thinking. If that doesn't happen in the beginning of the film, then that will show in the final product 100 percent.