On-Set Communication Quotes

There are so many directors who don't like any kind of interaction on set except for producers. I am the opposite.

Actors always feel more comfortable when there's an actor directing, in terms of vocabulary and breaking down a scene.

I think that for the actors, the last thing that they want is a director that's not watching, a director that goes 'Okay, it sounded good to me,' and they were doing something else or preoccupied with something else because they were worried about the light changing.

I've been on movies where I literally couldn't hear what the other actor was saying. It's very awkward.

Being an actor helps me direct a little bit, when I do that, which I haven't been able to do that much, but I plan to in the future. There are a lot of reasons for that, but certainly because I feel like you know how to talk to actors, and you know what they need from you if you've been one yourself.

I write all my scripts with Salman in mind. He understands me perfectly on the sets.

Established actors will challenge you if they don't agree with the way you are taking it, and you have to argue it. But with a younger cast, they are more likely to wonder whether what they are doing is okay instead of trying to second guess the director. That helps push you.

[Kevin] Costner said, "You don't have to do that... this is a wide shot, so you can calm down."

I can speak to actors in their terms. Knowing I was an actor, they relax. You can have the best shot in the world - but, at the center of it, you still need a good performance.

When you shoot an independent movie you have a very limited amount of time, and you don't want to be that actor, when a poor director is trying to get through a movie, that you're asking at every second to discuss performance.

Actors know how to talk to other actors in a way that sometimes other directors just don't.

The way that I deal with actors as a director is I just talk to them forever before we even arrive on set.

On my set, people have to respect the actor's process. I totally respect what actors do. I give them whatever time they need, and I never scream out directions from the camera. I take the time to walk up to them and talk to them personally.

A lot of directors straight out of film school are very technically minded, but they don't have an understanding of actors or how to talk to them.

You always have to figure out what the director is good at before you work with them; then you can fill in if need be.

There's nothing like being on a massive-budget film where you don't know anything, and there's a million people, and no one's communicating.

The great thing about first-time actors is that they listen. If you say something in a scene, they were listening to it. They weren't thinking about the return line.

As an actor, my No. 1 focus was to be on the same page with the writer, director, and producers.