Jim Rash Quotes

My experience has been that actors always want to be directed.

Acting is probably the number one team sport in America as far as I'm concerned.

As a director, you see something in someone; you know it's there, you just got to go get it. You do that with any actor. That's your job.

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

The idea of acting on the first 'Halloween', it didn't really apply to my eventual work, working with actors.

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.

When they're good, I like working with new actors.

Casting is 65 percent of directing.

Working with actors is something I've never done before. I find it tremendous. It's hard work.

To be able to work with actors who are doing such good work, not only makes it easier for you, but it makes you better.

Well you know, Woody doesn't rehearse, as opposed to my own method of directing where I really work with actors around a round table for weeks, examining the values of the material, so his technique is very different.

My department is to get actors to do stuff.

I choose my actors well and get to know the quirks of their personalities - and, most of all, I share humor with them. Then I keep my eyes open when they rehearse and perform, because you never know where the next stimulation comes from.

I keep saying this, but the most important part of directing is casting, and the rest of it is pretty easy.

I think every actor would probably say that it's always a collaboration. And if you ask directors, they'll tell you that they expect the actors to bring something. They don't want to be thinking for everybody.

I've spent most of my life trying to make actors comfortable, which I think is 90 percent of getting a good performance.

With actors, I have very close, intense working relationships with actors in theater.

When I choose child actors, I chose them for their personalities. And then I work with their own vocabulary, so I'm not imposing text or dialogue on them: I'm just receiving.

The thing about acting that's unlike any other art form is that it's collaborative; directing and acting are a collaboration, and your acting won't succeed if the lighting design doesn't succeed or sets don't succeed.

Acting is completely different from the standup world. You have these 12- or 14-hour days, but you have a great time doing it. It's like hanging out with your friends.

I'm not a trained actor. I surrender to my directors, and they make me act.

I loved 'Les Miz' and 'Into the Woods' - I used to cast 'Into the Woods' with my friends, even if they'd never stepped on stage before.

Sometimes you can just have a dialogue with an actor beforehand and shape the performance then, but other actors need more guidance on the set.

I get very excited when I get a chance to work with actors who are as passionate as I am.

When I call 'Action,' I love to be surprised. And the actors I've been fortunate enough to work with always surprise me in the best ways.