Actor Agency Quotes

I believe in giving actors the freedom to express themselves, and adding more to whatever is written.

You've got to understand that in Bollywood, every actor is an instrument, and yet a human being. They come to the set with a set agenda, believing, 'This is who I am, this is what I want, and no, I am not going to become that character you want me to.'

For most actors, it is the script that chooses them and not the other way around.

With acting it's your neck up there in the end. And if you think the director can't help you it's one thing. But if you feel they're reining you in when they need to be giving you some rope, or vice versa, then I just don't tolerate that.

You - as a director, you have to do your job, you have to show things, and you don't have to ask the actors to do it, or the dialogue.

In a lot of movies, honestly, the directors don't talk to you that much. Maybe they say, "Faster, slower," whatever. Sometimes they give you little adjustments, because sometimes you want to start out neutral, but a lot of times you wind up directing yourself anyway, just doing what you think is the right thing to do.

It's important to have the right agent - people that are working hard for you. But an actor needs to be in control of their career no matter how good the representation is.

I think at a certain point actors need to start taking responsibility for the kinds of stories they want to tell.

I've been very fortunate to work with a lot of directors who understand that actors need to feel empowered in order to really do their job.

You can lead a horse to water and you can even make it drink, but you can't make actresses wear what they don't want to wear.

We have a particular philosophy in the casting room that we don't really tell the actors - the actors tell us.

Any good production team is going to allow an actor to breathe life into the characters - that's why they hired that woman, that man, whatever the case.

A lot of times, actors give so much power to the producers and the producing companies because, quite frankly, they have it. But we don't take the limited power that we have, which the power you initially have is to say 'no.' But 'no' in a positive way.

I think every actor wants a certain amount of control. Maybe not control, as such, but just to be part of the process. But it's not necessary, I guess.

I like working with actors who make choices. Whether they get their ideas from me or from themselves, I want them to own all the choices so I can take my hand out of it.

Actors are almost conditioned to get their director's approval. 'I just did my song and dance, boss. What did you think?' Actors are infantilized so much.

Therefore, when you see the end result, it's difficult to see who's the director, me or them. Ultimately, everything belongs to the actors - we just manage the situation.

There's a misperception about actors that we actually choose the roles we end up doing - it's more that we're chosen for them.

Actors want to be told what to do - they really do. But they also want to have an input and be recognized for that.

A lot of what I think I do as a director is try to give everything over to the actor. So I disappear.