Craig Zadan Quotes

I think one of the biggest jobs of being a director is getting the casting right.

I think the reason you use an actor is if they are right for the role. Most of the high-profile stars tend to be good actors. That's probably what led to their fame. So if they are right for the movie, you can certainly use them. But I don't want to, not at all. Stardom and Hollywood overpower the ideas and the film.

The actor is concerned with his own bit of it, but the director's somehow trying to work the whole thing into a much bigger picture. It's like conducting an orchestra.

I keep saying this, but the most important part of directing is casting, and the rest of it is pretty easy.

As a director, you see something in someone; you know it's there, you just got to go get it. You do that with any actor. That's your job.

I feel like casting is the most important aspect of making movies.

Brad Pitt is a dude who just wants to make good movies. He's not afraid to surround himself with the greatest actors, which I always appreciate because I've also seen actors who only want to surround themselves with weak actors because it makes them look better. That ends up making a poorer movie.

Peter Jackson's instincts are extraordinary, as is his stamina.

Any filmmaker who has translated some personal vision into a film that actually gets shot and distributed is wildly successful. Congratulations! Anything after that is gravy.

Some people work very closely with a director or a producer on something, and from the get go, they're collaborating. But typically, it's just go in for an audition, do the best you can, and if the phone rings a couple of days after the audition and you get the part, that's great.

I feel like a lot of directing is casting.

The lead actor, along with the director, plays a big role in what the vibe will be on set, and that's a huge responsibility.

Part of an actor's job, in my opinion, is adjust to the characteristics of the director and try to understand to how he tries to work.

I thought that Hollywood was just for geniuses and that directors come from three generations of directors. I was worried that I was not up to the challenge of making a movie. Then realized that all a director has to do is know what he wants to do.

Being a director is almost like being another sort of character, but you're out of view.

A script is only as good as the director who's making it.

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

Most directors have little lists in their heads of people they really want to work with.

It's different being a director. I suppose, especially if it's a story you've written and you feel compelled to tell, in some ways it's a lot easier than acting because you're orchestrating the piece. As an actor, sometimes you're trying to second-guess what people want.

As an author, you hope for a director and a cast that will make something wonderful out of your book.

I admire directors so much, I find them incredible: they manage such a huge number of people of different characters, think of the money involved.

Any part I do is a marriage of the words - what the playwright or producer or show runner's vision is - to how I would play it. It took me a while to get rid of 'Oh, they want it this way, so I'm going to do it how they want it.'

I'm an actor first and foremost. My producing credentials are just to say, 'Yeah, I love this story and now let's bring the people, the ensemble together,' and I get out of the way. I have no desire to check on schedules and shooting schedules and money and stuff like that.

I wouldn't say I'm personally trying to transition from comedy into drama. I don't look at things like, 'Oh, I need to do a drama now.' I get a lot of material sent to me, and if I feel like something has the creative integrity and the right director and the right whoever involved, the right actors and is a great story, then I do it.

I can count on one hand the directors who actually directed me.