Directors Quotes - Page 12

When I was very young I wanted to be a professional horseback rider. Then I wanted to be a pop singer. Then I wanted to be a psychiatrist. Then I wanted to be a movie director.

I find that in the process of making a film you're constantly discovering things that you never even imagined would work at the beginning. Actors come into the film and do things you never even imagined. Production designers come in, the director of photography lights it in a way that you never imagined. So, it's always evolving, always exciting.

For 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona,' for example, Woody Allen is one of the greatest American directors, and we really had a very good working relationship. We understand each other really well. He gave me one of the best opportunities somebody has ever given me in my career.

If I had not been successful as a director, then I'm sure I would still be telling stories. I would have continued on 16mm or found a different medium through which to tell them. Maybe they would have been less glamorous than films, but I would continue to tell stories.

I'm not a Hollywood director. I'm an in spite of Hollywood director.

Getting the role in '300' saved me. I'd been out of work for 11 months after 'The Brothers Grimm.' Once the film came out and didn't do so well, the director Terry Gilliam blamed me for absolutely everything. It was pretty appalling, and I had started to wonder if I'd ever get another job again when I was asked to audition for '300.

Music and language are a vital element. We, as actors and directors, offer it to people who want to experience it. Sometimes the actual meaning is less important than the words themselves.

Some things you know about, you know what the ingredients are - maybe not all of them. But it's up to you to put in the amount. It's up to the director to nag you until you get it right.

I've actually been given a great gift. When I walk into an audition with a director, I'm carrying no baggage. They haven't seen me in anything, even though I've done nine films.

What I like in pictures whether by an old director or a young director is when I have the feeling he or she is really using the capacity of film.

I feel that directors at times are like the janitors on the set. I am the secretary, I am the organizer, I am the maid, and I ask if they have eaten or rested. The best things are always out of your control. It's those moments that surpass the imagination that are thrilling.

It's harder being a woman director because on the whole women don't have husbands or boyfriends who are willing to be wives

I don't have specific people. There are so many people that I admire and there's directors that I'm desperate to work with that haven't even made a movie yet, probably.

When I was a young stunt guy the director would say: "You're useless..." But I wanted to be the best, I wanted to be a super stunt guy. That's how I built myself, because of martial arts and everything.

I'm like a movie director, so wherever I feel that I need to go over this type of beat, that's what I'm going to do, that's where I'm going to go.

Being a good director is knowing sometimes when not to say something.

Most directors have one masterpiece by which they are known. Kurosawa has at least eight or nine.

The script, I always believe, is the foundation of everything.

Ultimately in the end, it's the director's choice

I'm not interested in being a celebrity; I'm interested in being a better actor and a better director.

Directors don't get to see other directors at work - they're the only one on the set. I've met directors who've asked me what another filmmaker is like. So, there's probably nobody better placed to make all the comparisons and to pick up stuff than an actor.

I like to be cast well and then I like to be left alone. And good directors, that's generally what they do when they hire you because you have something that's useful to the part, and then they leave you alone. The times that I've run into trouble is when, very rare actually, but you get hired and then there's some sort of makeover involved.

Every casting director I've met is a woman.

Picking projects, it's always director first and then script. Those two things are pretty much head-to-head.

In the documentary the basic material has been created by God, whereas in the fiction film the director is a God; he must create life.