Farhan Akhtar Quotes

My approach to working in movies is to empower the director to have power over me and to really support his vision because he's the guy, at the end of the day, who's going to put it all together.

I loved working with Stephen Frears. He's a really fantastic director. He knows what he wants and how to get it.

You have to really work with someone who you think is going to be a collaborator, who you think understands what you want to do with this movie and how you want to do it.

When I sign on for a project, I'm there to give the director all the material he or she might need to tell their story, and that's the number one priority.

A film is a director's vision... there is, however, much input an actor or actress can have.

Actors aren't stupid, mostly, and if there's a sensibility and an aesthetic that a director's going for, if you're aware of that too, you can do things to help that.

What you learn when you direct a film, even more so than as a producer, it's a marriage. It's like a relationship with that film so you've got to make sure that it's really something that you want to live with for three years or however long it is. So I haven't found the right thing to marry yet.

You can be playing a line some way and the director wants you to change that, or you can disagree. But I always think that the creative conversation between director and actor is what leads to good work.

It's such a strange combination that I'd be unhappy to make anything like that without Landis directing.

What goes on between the actor and director is sacred.

All these directors, and I would include the Coen brothers and Quentin, have a very unique vision of what they want. They listen to ideas and make people feel like everyone is making the film.

I worked with Steven Spielberg on Amistad... he seemed so very secure in himself that he let me do things.

I've definitely become more aware and conscious of what directors I'm working with because it's so important. The director is really more than half the battle of the film. You really rely on that. That's become really, really important to me, for sure.

When I do a film, I follow the director.

I like to know that my actors or my performers are going into it with the same amount of passion that I have for the project. They're as dedicated to achieving as I am.

No actor can give his best performance without the help of the director.

The concept of making a movie in which the director dictates is kind of exotic - and absolutely not truthful. Directing means allowing a great deal of collaboration and listening and having the ability to change your mind.

Directors are the fulcrum of the movie. They guide us well, not merely rein actors in. Whenever we stray, they bring us back on track.

When I do a film, I try and see how in tune I am with the director.

As a filmmaker, I make the films that I love, that are in my heart. That's what I care about.

I have a hard time visualizing anything, which is why I'm not a director, and which is why I try to work with ones I know have a strong idea in mind.

I would love to work with Guillermo del Toro and J.J. Abrams. I think they are creative geniuses that are constantly producing great work, and they're two people that I would just love to work with.

I know it sounds earnest, but I do really feel in my bones that acting is just a small part of the equation when you are making a movie. The director really is in charge. Actors are as important or unimportant as the rest of the people around them.

I don't have the temperament of being a director.

We tend to see films as artifacts of one mind. The reality of it is, I think, when you come out here and start working, you have to learn pretty quickly that it's a very collaborative process.