Director's Discretion Quotes

You act in a movie, and at the end of the day, the director and editor decide what your performance is.

I didn't need the insurance. I do it again if my DP tells me it didn't look good in the camera or if the actors didn't hit their marks. But if everything was working why do it again?

If a director brings a guy to their movie who does improv, they've got to let him do what he does - otherwise it's like bringing Michael Jordan to your basketball team and telling him to just pass the ball and don't shoot.

If I were to be cast as Cyrano or a Connecticut prep-school teacher or a gay boutique owner, it would only happen if some director I had worked with in the past said, 'Why don't we give Rispoli a shot at it?'

As an actor, you're always nervous as to what a director will do with something.

I can't imagine a situation where, as FBI director, I would be giving a press conference on an uncharged individual, much less talking in detail about it.

When you have people like Casey [Affleck] and Michelle Williams and they want to do more takes you don't say, "Sorry, that's it." And I also don't like to say, "It's fine, it's great." Unless it's clearly there.

He was also very clear that the decision to cast me as Cora was all Michael's.

Whenever I work on something, I try and throw everything I have at it. Then if the director finds it useful they use it, and if not, they ignore it!

I've always believed that the director does whatever the hell he wants. That's what you sign on for as an actor - I can't stand it when you have actors who are trying to leverage directors into doing things they don't want to do.

I think the reason I was able to get the jobs I did is because I worked for some very strong, self-possessed filmmakers who wouldn't listen to the executive-suited wisdom, and they believed in me from director to actor. Not from salesman to commodity.

The nice thing about a documentary, I think, is that so much of it is editing, too. You sort of get to keep making decisions. It's not as much like when you do a narrative, fictional piece, and you have a certain number of shooting days, and you're like, "Well, that's what it is." You can continue to seek out more photographs or try to find more footage. The genre gives you the ability to keep working on it, which is great for a first-time director.

As a director, you can't stop a guy if he thinks something's hysterical, because if you do, then he'll get depressed because he thinks he didn't come up with a good joke. So if a guy's going on some run and it's killing him, and he thinks it's hilarious, you gotta do enough so that he thinks you can use it in the movie.

There's nothing wrong in sporting a bikini. If the director wants to shoot you in a pool, you cannot be wearing denims or a saree - you need to be dressed accordingly to the situation.

I have always gone with the story which I liked at that point of time and when I retire my filmography will be interesting.

I always used to say, as a director, that I could make anybody good in a movie if you found the right part. It all comes down to casting.

It's because you have no power. You give them all the material and the cinematographer, the director, the editor, boy what they can choose... You better hope they like you because they can slice and dice and make you look like a damn fool when your face and body are up there on a 30-foot screen.

You can do 12 great takes, but if the director is no good, he'll end up picking the wrong one.

As the director, you have it in your mind how you want the part done, how you want someone to do it, and so sometimes you just say, 'Why don't I do it myself?' So for a little role, I'll just do it.

You have to write a good score that you feel good about. At least, you're supposed to. But, if the director hates it, it ain't going to be in the movie!

What I'm always afraid of is going "off-book,I always get upset when the director leaves the classic comic that was so very popular. I argued, and I won't say with who about what, but when we go way away from the original source material... that material is popular for a reason and I like to stick with it.

The best times I had on film sets were the times the director let me express myself, but those were rare.

I didn't so much choose the film as director Claire Denis chose me.

You can certainly shorten things and tighten things, we tightened up Jon's walk to Mance Rayder's tent. That was something that got tightened up a little bit because I had shot the hell out of that.

I've always found it strange that a director can hire any designer he wants from any country. But if he hires a foreign actor, it's like he's stolen the crown jewels and run across the river with them.