Robin Wright Quotes

I don't think it's necessary to be an actor to get great performances out of an actor. But I do think it helps me as a director because I know what I like as an actor, and I try to get that to the actors who I'm working with.

Good directors give short and specific instructions to their actors.

I didn't train in directing; I talk to actors the way I talk to anybody.

I have a coach, but I'm not theater-trained or a technical actor.

I don't know what directing actors is all about apart from just casting well and then shaping their performances a bit, you know.

I know with Gary Ross especially, he kind of gave me pointers here and there, but he kind of let me become firm in any way that I needed, and he just let me try things and to explore what I can do with my acting. So that was very helpful.

I learned my business in the theater and in television, particularly working with the actors. You can learn much more in the theater than directing a movie, because then you have no time when you are shooting a movie to really work with the actors. You have to learn this craft somewhere else.

I don't usually direct actors in the classic sense of that word. Instead, I try to remind the characters before the shoot what's going on in a very simple way. I then watch them, their inventions as actors, approving or not approving what they're doing.

The best way to learn how to work with actors is to have had experience of trying to act yourself - it will teach you humility if nothing else.

I thought acting was all about natural instinct but I've realised, through working with so many talented actors on 'Wild Swans' and 'Run,' that I can see the training. That's why I am back at drama school.

I try to get the best performance an actor can give.

Most actors spend a lot of time training themselves to be an actor. And I kind of didn't do that.

I was a director and dialogue and acting coach.

As an actor, the first thing you're taught is, 'Don't look into the camera; ignore it.'

I think actors do need some hand holding to know what they are doing.

Naseer Sir taught me while I was a student at the Film and Television Institute of India. Anything I know about acting is thanks to him.

As a director, you have to know what actors are doing. You're the one telling them what to do. The actors' job is to come prepared to the set, but sometimes, if they're beginning actors or people who are non-actors, you have to teach them how to act.

Everyone brings their own particular skill set to the job, and acting training can work for a lot of actors, and it can't. I've seen a lot of really good actors go into acting schools and then come out a little bit corrupted.

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.

I do think that's so much a part of what being a director is - in working with actors - to really try and be sensitive to what each actor needs to get to where he wants to be.

My advice to young actors is probably to do some theatre; definitely do that. I keep running into these actors who have never been on stage, and it's invaluable for an actor. What you will learn about yourself is huge.

I think I'm good at amplifying an actor's strengths, and minimizing their weaknesses. And they all have strengths and weaknesses.

There are so many actors that I meet that don't act enough. Definitely take class, definitely train - that's the most important thing you do. Build your craft. Become better.

I trained in Toronto with a private acting teacher, who was wonderful, for years growing up.

I trained as a stage actor and was given a lot of technical tools to play with.