First-Time Director Quotes

I like working with a first time director. I'm more likely to work with a first time director than I am a second time director.

I started working with James [Schamus] early on, and my role as an executive producer was more about being involved in the conversations of putting the film together. I didn't have to do much work because James is the most experienced first-time director you could imagine.

When you hear that you're going to be working with a first-time director, sometimes that can be a concern to people.

Essentially I feel like all of that pressure when you're making the first of a franchise of [movies based on] books that mean so much to people that has so much attention on it, it can be quite paralyzing I think. I think a lot of that creeped in the first time around and it maybe affects the work.

I've never directed before, so I need to make sure that people know that I can. The movie that I've written, 'The Sophisticates,' is a... small ensemble comedy and I hope it's charming and funny.

Jordan Vogt-Roberts directed me in 'Kings of Summer,' which was his debut feature. I got to witness the passion and hunger that first-time directors bring to projects, and ever since, then I've been very intrigued when I've come across a project with a less experienced director.

It just so happened that J.C.[Chandor] was a first-time feature director, and his script was exactly the kind of thing we were looking for.

I've never directed anything before 'Mad Men,' so I don't feel I have any advice for the other directors.

I have worked with another first-time director who was not that open, and it was probably one of the worst experiences I ever had, so my antennas are really out.

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.

(Sometimes when) someone's directing for the first time, they're afraid to include everyone - they have to prove they're the director.

It was really an experience, being my first time directing a movie. The scenes that I was in, Brooke really directed me all the time. And the scenes that both of us were in, Brooke directed those. Come to think of it, Brooke directed most of the scenes.

A lot of the fear about being a first-time director is just starting with a completely blank slate and thinking: 'Is this going to connect with anybody?'

As a first-time director in America, I feel I've been very fortunate.

You only get one world premiere of your directorial debut.

'The Road' was my first American film, my first film in the snow. The first of everything. So, I was jumping into it, and that was pretty grueling.

I'd never directed before and this movie's too important to me to put in the hands of some guy who has never directed. Even if it's me.

There's definitely a psychology to making you feel important and like you're part of the game. It's a very special quality, especially with a first-time director.

I think we're all kind of alike when you do your first film. You have great hopes, but you don't hope too much.

When you have a director who has work you can identify from the past, it gives you some reference point as to what their interpretation of the story might be, and how that might jibe, right or wrong, with how you see it. But with a first-time director, you don't really know where you're at.

Clark Gregg and I are around the same age. He has been an actor and is a writer. But with a first-time director, there is a way to talk about things they might not know. Because Clark was an actor, though, he knew more about the process than most first-time directors.

I've always had good relationships with directors. I'm one of those people where, if there's a good idea coming from the sound guy, I'll take it. Filmmaking is a collaborative effort, whether it's a first-time director or it's Mike Nichols. I think that's the standard that the great ones set.

'Cuban Fury' was a big production for a first time director to handle: I think it is very easy to become very stressful and for it to get the better of you.