I love directing more than anything in the world, and I love being in the editing room. I love cutting. When I'm shooting, I cut it in my head anyway. That's not to say that it always turns out that way, but you have a sense when you're composing a sequence or a scene how you want it to look anyway.
I don't see a big difference between the job of directing a low-budget movie and the job of directing a big-budget movie.
I was a film-directing major at NYU. I'm still not sure why I became a directing major, when I was really an actor and a comedian, but there was something that drew me to doing that.
You get money out of acting. You get gray hair out of directing. Actually, I get more of a rush from directing.
In terms of directing a feature, I'd want the story to be right - you know, it's a year of your life, and you have to be focused on one thing, so I want it to be a story that I really, really care about and will enjoy making.
I think, basically, I am an actor. Sometimes I'm an actor who's writing and sometimes an actor who's directing, but I think if I'm forced to fill out a form for my tax return, 'actor' is the first thing I write down.
When you're just an actor, you do your role, and then you're in your trailer. It's not as hands on as when you're directing. You live and breathe it.
I enjoy the acting, but I didn't plan on that. It fell into my lap, and I'm having a lot of fun with it, but I'm definitely moving towards directing because I'm naturally a writer, and I think a good director edits, writes, and has acted a little bit. He's done a little bit of everything, and that's what I'm trying to do.
Television is much more of a producer's writer's medium, so a lot of the time, when you're directing a television show, they have a color palette on set or a visual style and dynamic that's already been predetermined, and you just kind of have to follow the rules.
I'm a producer at heart. I like being in the control room and directing people. That's what I do. But I've gotten on the mic a few times in my career; people seem to like it, so I'll do it again here and there. But that's really not my thing.
I can't sit on my bum very long in a movie theater seat, and when I'm directing, I always want to move the camera or edit.
I always put myself in the audience's place and see if, as a viewer, I would want to see the film. If yes, then I want to know who's directing it, what my character is, and if it's impactful. If all these points fall in place, I'll do the film. If not, then I won't think twice before saying no.
I found, through the process of doing 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower,' that I really love directing movies and I love writing books and so this will become the centerpiece of my career for the next ten or twenty years. Doing these adaptations.
We still have not been able to move into those positions in our country that are really directing traffic among that 1 percent, and that's where women have to break through.
I love being creative. I love acting, but I also love directing because you get to have a vision for the whole and bring that vision to fruition.
For me, to be perfectly honest, the part of my brain that was stimulated by directing was much more exciting than a typical day of acting.
People think that the directors direct actors. No. Really, what the director's doing is directing the audience's eye through the film.
Directing myself definitely made me a better actor. And, you know, I think actors have the best track record when they turn to directing. Writers, too. I knew how to direct actors because I've been there and I know what I like.
I always want to be telling stories in whatever fashion I can, and directing is really just understanding and learning a different element of that storytelling process.
The whole chameleon thing about acting. That's why I'm moving towards directing - it's a much more healthy occupation.
When I'm acting, I'm just worried about that piece of the pie, contributing to the whole. But when you're directing, you... get the vision out of your head and on the stage.
I started directing chamber orchestras, then adding bigger pieces, adding winds, adding small symphonies. I've always loved chamber music, and I've done a lot.
Directing your first film is like showing up to the field trip in seventh grade, getting on the bus, and making an announcement, 'So today I'm driving the bus.' And everybody's like, 'What?' And you're like, 'I'm gonna drive the bus.' And they're like, 'But you don't know how to drive the bus.'
Directing can be very lonely and quite intimidating.
Directing, editing, and everything about filmmaking has definitely changed me as an actor.
An acting career usually has about a shelf life of ten years before people get sick of seeing you. It's a good thing to have a job to fall back on and I really do enjoy directing.
As an actor, it's hard to direct because, suddenly, you're not around. The thing which I hate about directing is the waiting game, but you've really got to wait it out and be resilient and keep it going and keep everybody motivated.
Writing, directing... anything behind the camera is what I want to do.
I always say, 'I love producing, but directing is my passion,' and for a while, I had to produce to support my directing habit.
First of all, it was in my contract. I knew I would be directing an episode.
I don't miss directing at all, and I don't miss screenwriting either because somebody's always telling you to do something different.
The process of writing and directing drives you to such extremes that it's natural to feel an affinity with insanity. I approach that madness as something dangerous, and I'm afraid, but also I want to go to it, to see what's there, to embrace it. I don't know why, but I'm drawn.
Sometimes it's learning how the play wants to function rather than imposing something on it. For me, that's the thrill in directing.
