Jessica Hecht Quotes

As a director, it is important to understand the actor's process.

Once I'm on set, the only thing I'm really interested in is being in the room. Being present. And trusting that what I've done is sufficient, and I'm also trusting that I've also left room for magic.

I miss working with great actors, working with great directors.

I'm the sort of actor who likes to talk about what we're going to do.

The more and more I work with really great actors, the more it's about opening yourself up to what they bring.

Working with actors is something I've never done before. I find it tremendous. It's hard work.

Obviously, I play a villain in 'Downton Abbey'. As an actor, you want to get a variety of roles, so to be offered the part of Joe, it was perfect.

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.

The whole idea with acting is that you take some risks. And if you take some risks, you're really going to mess up sometimes. But it's not OK to mess up a movie; it's not OK to do that just so you can improve as an actor. But film-making takes a little bit of risk in every department.

Nick Lea is a great actor, and doing scenes with him was always awesome.

Anyone who has been given the gift of being opposite an actor who gives and gives, it just makes you better.

One of the exciting and enjoyable aspects of acting is being in the environment with another actor.

Acting is the work of two people - it's only possible when you have the complicity, the help, even the manipulation of a director.

To be able to work with actors who are doing such good work, not only makes it easier for you, but it makes you better.

I like doing a lot of research, and then you get there, you're in wardrobe, and then you're just reacting to what the other person is doing. The other actor is reacting to what you're doing, and it's this great back and forth. Because you've done all this research, you can use some of it or throw a lot of it out. You can get lost in it.

Most actors are pretty adaptable because we work with so many directors.

The good thing about helping an actor create a performance is, you really don't know how you're going to do it. It's a challenge every time you get to the set. That keeps the energy flowing all the time.

The best script in the world doesn't work perfectly when you actually act it out. That's a law. That's a given. So you have to play with everything. And the more fun you have with it, the better the finished product.

What I've learned in my career as an actor is that you're only as good as your collaborators. The process is many things, but it is wholly collaborative, particularly with something like 'Westworld,' which is a 10-episode-per-season gig, and we're just now on the 7th episode.

I'm not one of those actresses that asks what's going to happen. I've never been. I just take the scripts, and I see what's given to me, and I go with it that way.

And being an actor already means that working with cast as a director, I have a clear understanding of their position and that collaboration is great and useful.

As an actor, it was great to work with Harry Lloyd because he's wicked smart, and he is very kind.

I get very excited when I get a chance to work with actors who are as passionate as I am.

When I call 'Action,' I love to be surprised. And the actors I've been fortunate enough to work with always surprise me in the best ways.

When I do the roles, when I'm in the room and auditioning, I'll ask the director if they're cool with me adding stuff, or just improvising while we're doing it. And I would say, like, 90 percent of the time, they say, 'Absolutely.'