If you're writing a screenplay for a feature, you don't have any involvement with the casting process, the editing process, the set design, the costume design, or any of that stuff.
If you think about filmmaking as an entire spectrum, starting with the writer and ending with maybe the marketing department, the actor's contribution is a rather slender band.
If it's stage, the two most important artists are the actor and the playwright. If it's film, THE most important person is the director. The director says where the camera goes.
By the time I got to the Fox studio for my first major film, I knew how to hit a mark. I knew how to memorize lines. I knew how to pay attention.
Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent's fate.
Directing 'The Office' is kind of like someone going, 'Would you like to drive my Lamborghini?' And I'm like 'Yes, I would like to drive your Lamborghini. That sounds like fun.'
When I was acting, I was always asking abut the mechanics of filmmaking. I decided I would learn what everyone on set was doing, so I would feel less threatened.
I really feel like becoming a director came from other women saying, 'Yeah, you can do this.' I wanted to direct 'Six Feet Under,' and no, they didn't let me.
I knew I wanted to be a performer, but I didn't know I would specifically be in film. I actually never thought I would be in film. I always envisioned being on the stage.
The creative process for a musician is very different than for a filmmaker. I have an idea, and I can pretty much execute it.
I want to go make a movie and be very present for that and give it everything I have, and after we're done, then the rest of the time is mine.
I love having made a movie.
Theatre is done largely for the love of the craft. Television makes you famous. And films immortalize you. That's the relationship between the three.
Shooting a movie should be fun! It's not a real job. It can be hard, but at the end of the day, we're dressing up and playing pretend.
I majored in theater. I did plays. But musicals were not my thing.
I think my own strengths are in television production.
I do want to get more involved with clothing, TV shows, movies.
I do have aspirations when it comes to directing, I suppose, but in a sort of a vague way. It would probably come about if I found a project that I really felt passionate about.
I love working with actors. That's what the set really is, for me. It's my time with the actors.
The first time I went behind the camera was in 1993. I felt, 'This is my thing,' and I knew that someday I'd make a feature.
Acting was something that I grew up just doing. I certainly never thought about it.
I wanted to do a film for a while, but I never found a script that I felt I was going to be the right person for; because if you've never made a film, you're not taught how to make a film, and you feel like you lack skills.
I've followed Gary Oldman his whole career... I've watched the movies he's directed, like 'Nil by Mouth' - I've seen that five times!
When I was in film institute, stage plays were compulsory part of our training.
A writer doesn't really have much of a function on a movie set.
