I have worked with good directors, and I consider myself very lucky because I think that it is very important.
I've worked with Neil Jordan, who I really adore. We did The Brave One [2007] together.
When I work, I'm the actor. I'm going to do my job. I'm not going to direct the movie. If I wanted to direct it, I would direct it. I wanted J.J. Abrams to direct Mission: Impossible. I work with people that I respect. I expect them to do their jobs, and I will do mine. And I am there as a producer to help in any way, but no one makes a movie by themselves. It's a collaboration.
And of course to work with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton, and work with a wonderful, beautiful script directed by Nancy Meyers, it was really for me a dream come true.
It was easy and fun [filming in Hail, Caesar!], and I think it's easy to be intimidated by the Coen brothers, because they're quiet. They don't heap praise, especially upon themselves. It's not like they're walking around thinking they're the greatest thing on Earth.
I've worked with some absolutely wonderful directors who bring out the best in me and I know I can trust, and then I've had the opposite experience, too. I've had both experiences, and obviously one is good and one is not good. When they're great, it's good. When they're not great, it's not so great.
My whole M.O. in my 20s was being in as many different types of films as you can. Working with as many different types of directors as you can. I think, in part, that's what I wanted to do as an actor.
I've done network shows. A director will call me and say, 'Do you want to do this with me?' and I'll say, 'Sure,' but I couldn't do it forever because there's no real expression. That's not how people talk.
Tim Burton... as an actor you wait and wish and hope and pray you'll work with him.
Because I've always aspired to direct and produce, I've literally worked with about 200 directors and countless producers, so what I appreciate is how, through osmosis and through actually asking questions and through people offering wisdom, there's a lot in there.
It was a fabulous experience shooting [in the Aviator], working with Leo [DiCaprio] and Danny Huston in the scene. It was great. I think what was most eye-opening about it was that [Martin] Scorsese was just like any good director you work with.
I'd like to think every director I've worked with has fallen in love with me, I know Dorothy Arzner did.
Well, 45-odd years of doing it, so we all pile up the things we like about directors and the things we don't like about directors. And sometimes they're very similar.
David Zucker was great! Those guys are funny. I mean, they are funny. There's a wonderful thing about doing that kind of work like Superhero Movie: You have to be real, but you also have to get the laugh. There you are, your director and the producers are right there at the monitors, and you either get the laugh or you don't. And so you just do it until you get the laugh.
Sometimes you have to say the words exactly how they are on the page, but sometimes when you improv, it only helps to get across what's on the page, and I just love working with directors who allow that.
Working with Joe [Kosinski], definitely. I loved working with Joe. For a guy who doesn't really come from the fiction world - he comes from advertising and architecture - he's extremely easy-going and very calm. He's extremely detailed, but a very generous and fun director to work with. He really encouraged me to find the fun in the part and to have fun with it.
I have been incredibly fortunate to be able to work with good directors and for me it's not really a plan each time I'm on a set with one of them; I think about what I can learn from them because I'm very aware that my filmmaking skills are very modest.
I think it's a legend that Lars von Trier is such a tough person to work with. I really didn't experience any of that. Of course, he's difficult in the sense that what he asks for is difficult. For my part in Antichrist, I suffered a bit. But it was the part - it wasn't him. He wasn't cruel. On the contrary, he was very kind. You know what you're up for when you read the pitch.
I did a stint on 'Dollhouse,' and prior to my stint on 'Dollhouse,' I had no plans to be working with Joss Whedon until he said, 'Hey, do you want to do this?' When he calls, I'll pick up the phone, and that's how that works.
I learned a lot while I was ACing and gripping for other DPs as I was coming up.
I enjoy the medium of film, and I think I understand it well, and I like working with directors, so yeah, I think I'll stick with this.
I feel like I've had a really great intense relationship with every single Director I've ever worked with. I can't say there's one that hasn't been deep and profound in its own way.
The things I'm most excited about are projects I'm producing. But if a director I'd love to work with calls, I'm always game.
Directors are our teachers, and I'm always craving to work with a great director. They're pretty much the first thing that interests me about a project.
