Actor Discovery Quotes

I never try to show an actor what to do or what to say. He has to find out for himself. The role of the director is to guide him to that state, and then to implement it.

Finding a good kid actor is like finding a needle in a massive haystack.

I remember the first time my mind was blown by an actor was Tim Curry, because I loved 'Clue' when I was a kid, and then I was watching the movie 'Legend,' and the Devil suddenly smiles, and I was like, 'It's the same guy!' It was a total Keyser Soeze moment.

I watched 'Free Willy' probably 100 times. I nearly wore out the VHS tape. That movie was my introduction to Michael Madsen. When I finally saw 'Reservoir Dogs', I was like, 'That's the guy from 'Free Willy'!' - which is probably the wrong way around.

The point at which we worked with some of these actors, they weren't really stars yet. Nicolas Cage was not a big star when we did Raising Arizona. A lot of these people were also virtually unknown, too, when we worked with them first.

It's an interesting thing when you're casting a film - especially when you're trying to discover someone - you're waiting for someone to step into the room in an audition process and claim the role.

Even when they have a star that they're going after, casting directors love, if anything, just the excuse to see people. They like to have a dugout full of actors that they can go to.

I was the first studio executive to meet with Sean Penn after 'Taps' in 1981. I was anxious to develop things with him when nobody knew who he was.

When people talk about first-timers, I always think of Spike Lee. In every film he's made, he has A-listers, but he's always giving roles to first-time actors and breaking careers. He's brought such wonderful actors into the spotlight, and I love that.

I don't really like to work with actors that work a lot and are very well established already. In a way, I like to nurture talent and have it burst on the scene.

Arnaud Desplechin invented me as an actor. I never imagined I'd be acting in movies.

Very thorough in the rehearsal process but more in terms of just understanding the characters, understanding where the actors are at with discovering those characters for themselves, and just setting an overall emotional tone for the piece as opposed to necessarily getting things up on their feet or staging scenes.

Street-casting - people like Katie Jarvis in 'Fish Tank,' spotted having a row with her boyfriend on a railway platform - has helped make actors raise their game. They have to.

I'm a big fan of 'The IT Crowd.' That's where I discovered Chris O'Dowd.

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

AMC has a track record for finding actors who have been working actors but not names yet and casting them.

A pilot is like the most extensive dress rehearsal you can ever imagine, because the writers are learning about the actors, the actors are learning about the characters.

There was another Judy Garland movie on TV, and it wasn't 'The Wizard of Oz,' and I was so confused. I was like, 'Wait a second, what is Dorothy doing in this movie?' And that's when I became fascinated. I didn't realize there were actors.

The director sent for me for Tarzan. I climbed the tree and walked out on a limb. The next day I was told I was an actor.