Directing Actors Quotes

If I have enough ego to say I'm a writer, a director, a producer, and an actor, I should have the energy and the knowledge to write a scene for this great actor named Henry Fonda and direct him in it and have it work.

I don't think it's necessary to be an actor to get great performances out of an actor. But I do think it helps me as a director because I know what I like as an actor, and I try to get that to the actors who I'm working with.

In general, the few directors that I've worked with that I really respect have taught me a lot about who I am and they've opened me up as an actor. I want to take some of that to apply it to when I'm directing actors.

In a movie you have all these logistical problems; all these practical problems. But you're also going to have people come who can do things that you can't do, and you get to direct their talents.

My two great loves when I'm shooting are working with great actors and composing images.

Any director who's also acted understands the fact that every person has a different process and has to be approached differently.

With directors, some have a kind of in-built ability to just know how to work with actors and get the best out of actors, and some don't have a clue about acting. I think it'd be a good idea if directors put themselves in front of the camera, or even went on a six-week drama course, just to know a little bit about what that feels like.

The best way to learn how to work with actors is to have had experience of trying to act yourself - it will teach you humility if nothing else.

My department is to get actors to do stuff.

The main thing about directing is: photograph the people's eyes.

Look, a lot of directors were actors, even if they were unsuccessful actors which I think is helpful. I think it's a really helpful thing for a director to have experienced that. It helps you know how to talk to actors and how to get what you need from them.

I think acting really helps as a director. It's just no question, because you totally understand the acting process.

As a director, you have to know what actors are doing. You're the one telling them what to do. The actors' job is to come prepared to the set, but sometimes, if they're beginning actors or people who are non-actors, you have to teach them how to act.

Working with [Robert] De Niro taught me a lot about being an actor's director.

I always felt, and still feel, one of my best strengths as a director is having been an actor for a long time. Nobody knows actors and their insecurities and strengths and everything more than somebody who's done it before.

Partly why I love to operate is that I love to watch an actor within a shot. When you watch a shot, and you know that everything's come together, I feel I'm the first person watching it. I always get pleasure out of that.

I think directors should at least take acting lessons to see what's going on. And I think all actors should direct to see what a director has to go through.

A lot of directors in television have come up through the technical ranks. They have all the technical skills in the world. They're not all that familiar with actors.

I don't want to infantilize the actor; I want to empower the actor. Actors can be many things, but all of the really good ones are really great storytellers, and I'm interested in that. If you're not interested in that as a director then you better be Stanley Kurbrick.

My favorite part of the whole filmmaking process is working with a fantastic cinematographer, a fantastic actor or actors, and then just creating emotions and stories. I get so excited by that. That's the part I'm utterly addicted to.

I started out with this dream of being a director and doing cinematography and bought my first film camera at 15.

People think that the directors direct actors. No. Really, what the director's doing is directing the audience's eye through the film.

For me, all you want from your actor is for them to engage on a deeply emotional level with the material. If you feel like that happens, directing the actors is pretty much done at that point.

I would love to be able to get behind the camera and direct actors. I think that would be a lot of fun.

I think it's very hard to direct foreign language actors, but Carl Rinsch found a great way. A special super visional way.