In the acting game, you spend a long time fighting against what the director perceives you to be. And half the time the directors don't know.
Every character I've ever played, I always try to take him right to the edge and not allow him to fall over, but directors have a tendency to pull me back a little bit.
I think one of the things you have to be aware of as an actor is that if you come on the set and see the director standing there mouthing all the words while a scene is going on, that's usually a very bad sign because it means the director has already shot the scene in his head. He knows exactly the rhythm and the nuances that he wants delivered in the line and you're not going to dissuade him.
There's a lot of egos with actors. We certainly don't like to be directed by other actors, or anything like that.
It can be a bit annoying if another actor is trying to talk to the director and the wife is sitting on his lap.
Working with actors really depends on the actor. Most of the directors I've worked with don't really know how to speak to actors, actually; some of the best directors don't.
My process is very disempowering to the director anyway, so it's essential that you be respectful. Once we've sort of found the scene, I have to get out of there, because you don't want to split the actor's idea of who's in charge.
There's no such thing as an actor giving positive criticism to a director. The minute you say 'Don't you think it would look nicer...', that director's going to hate your guts. Particularly if it's a good idea.
To the audience it doesn't really matter how much the director struggled with an actor. It's the result that counts.
Unfortunately, in Hollywood, there are those directors that have some contempt for actors. We've all experienced that, in one way or another.
