As a director, I never feel that I have the answers.
Since I was a child, I've liked telling stories. Maybe because my father's a director, I grew up loving stories. I'm not good at spinning them at a dinner table because I do go on a bit, but I love writing them, and directing is just a way of editing the story.
I thought that Hollywood was just for geniuses and that directors come from three generations of directors. I was worried that I was not up to the challenge of making a movie. Then realized that all a director has to do is know what he wants to do.
The first thing I ask when I'm offered a part is, Who's the director? which is something they never understand in Los Angeles.
As somebody who has been an executive producer on a television series, I can tell you that increasing director diversity is as simple as hiring more women and more people of color.
There was a Russian director named Elem Klimov, who did his films during the communist days. They were constantly struggling with the authorities and to be allowed to express themselves. But he did one of the best war movies I've ever seen - it's called 'Come and See.'
I never thought of becoming a director. When I was twelve, the passage from silent film to the talkies had an impact on me - I still watch silent films.
I love working fast. I don't relish the director who wants to do 25 to 30 takes, or the actors who insist on doing 25 or 30 takes.
I don't know, you know, when I look at it now, I don't know what in the world made me think I could become a director. I really don't.
There was an interesting article in Los Angeles Magazine about women directors. A woman director makes one bad independent film and her career is over. Guys tend to get an opportunity to learn from their mistakes.
I doubted that there were Communists hiding behind every corporation desk and director's chair.
I provide the bricks and mortar with the words and situations - the director and the actors and the designers build the house.
I was too dumb to know Opie was going to grow up to be a great Director, if so, boy, I would certainly have become his best friend.
Jim Brooks is a very powerful director and it was a lot of intense work.
I feel that the critic and music director should have such a good relationship they can pick up the phone and call each other any time.
I got a lot of energy from directing the film 'Ladies In Lavender.' You wonder if you have the stamina because as an actor you can lounge around the trailer during the scenes you're not in, but as a director, you're there from first thing in the morning to last thing at night every day of the week. I found it incredibly energising.
I was lucky to have my wife as the art director, and it turned out to be quite something - a great success. I'm very proud of it.
What happens is things come to you - director, script - and if you respond to it, it's because it's tapping into some part of what's inside you, and different roles tap into different parts.
'The Best Man' was my first feature film, and I didn't want to be known as a director who only does romantic comedies.
I love those films where I feel the director's confidence - where he doesn't need to overdo it with the shots and the cuts.
If you do well as an actor, a good director will pick up on it, and keep it in the film.
I think I'm a very American director, but I probably should have been making movies somewhere around 1976. I never left the mainstream of American movies; the American mainstream left me.
I'm not a director who feels I should be in your face all the time. I really want you to watch the actors and listen to the play.
I'd love to see the rushes but it's just not allowed because directors and also a lot of actors feel that if they see their work, and the director likes what they're doing, the actor might try to correct their mistakes.
I had pictured myself as a filmmaker but I had never pictured myself as a director if that makes any sense at all.
For example I don't work with William Hurt the same way that I will work with Viggo. They're different guys and they work in different ways. So a good sensitive director has his general style and technique and personality that he uses but you don't impose that on the actors.
As a director, there is nothing more fun than seeing an audience screaming and jumping. You are the ultimate puppet master, controlling the emotions of the audience.
I have a dual role as founder of AERIN and Image and Style Director of Estee Lauder. So work is a bit of a juggling act.
I came to Los Angeles only after filming 'A Good Day to Die Hard,' when I was cast in the independent movie 'Delirium.' Director Lee Roy Kunz was looking everywhere for a Russian actress. He saw my photos, and only then he learned where I starred before! Eventually, I spent several months in the U.S., and we made the film quickly.
I realized the exciting place was behind the camera with the producer, director and so on.
When I came to England, the first director I met was Charles Sturridge, who told me, 'You speak like somebody out of the 1950s.'
I feel fortunate. I've really gotten to work with amazing talented people, and to learn from them, which is why I'm doing this. If I can work with the best director I'm going to do it.
I'm an actress who likes a strong, communicative director.
My first in, my first break, was I met a director and got to talking with her, and she happened to be casting this movie that she had written. That was ten years ago. That got me to Hollywood. I got paid $700 bucks.
Casting sometimes is fate and destiny more than skill and talent, from a director's point of view.
I prefer being called director Aishwarya Dhanush's husband. She and I share our passion for cinema, but at home, we hardly talk about it. Instead, we share other interests.
