Wong Kar-Wai is a really great inspiration. He's always referred to as the Jimi Hendrix of filmmaking.
Toy Soldiers was my introduction to film. I certainly didn't think I was doing art by any stretch of the imagination.
I think the way you make a movie dictates the movie that you make.
Here's the thing about standup directing: not that hard. As I said on Twitter one day, or maybe it was Instagram - sorry, I want to keep my platforms straight - it's essentially the same five shots over and over again. Seven if you're ambitious.
I think I'm good at amplifying an actor's strengths, and minimizing their weaknesses. And they all have strengths and weaknesses.
Every director has their own unique working style.
One thing I tend to do is ask actors tons and tons of questions to try to get at what they're thinking but also to expose to them whatever box they've placed their characters in - to blow up that box so the journey can begin.
I learned my business in the theater and in television, particularly working with the actors. You can learn much more in the theater than directing a movie, because then you have no time when you are shooting a movie to really work with the actors. You have to learn this craft somewhere else.
For example I don't work with William Hurt the same way that I will work with Viggo. They're different guys and they work in different ways. So a good sensitive director has his general style and technique and personality that he uses but you don't impose that on the actors.
I think it's all the same animal for me. There are actors who sing, and there are actors who direct, and I also improvise. That's one thing I do as part of my acting. I don't really separate the two.
Directors have a tendency to use their hands like orchestra conductors. They don't realize that the actor is looking at their faces, anyway.
I understood that I was not the best director in the world nor the worst director in the world. I realized that there is a very mysterious element to what works and what doesn't work in the theater. And it's good to know that from the beginning.
I use something that is a real staple in the directing world. It's called a dance floor. You lay it down so that it's so smooth you can roll around, and you can put furniture on top of it. It's seamless and you don't see it.
I travel light as a director. I don't have monitors on my set.
Everything a director does must help the story and the performances. Otherwise, it is useless.
Everything you do on set is directly related to your imagination when you read the script for the first time.
Some actors like encouragement. Some actors prefer to have pressure. And sometimes, for some actors, its better to give your comment by silence, because they are so skillful, so gifted, that they understand without talking too much.
Acting is about animality. It's great to be allowed to be animal. But I feel more alive as a director. Every morning, I have to write.
My way of directing is definitely unorthodox, definitely unconventional.
So many directors these days direct by design and shoehorn you into things - direction or blocking - that they had in mind previously. They're short on time and they want to get that over with so they can get onto the finer details of a play.
I didn't train in directing; I talk to actors the way I talk to anybody.
Continental directors, as opposed to British and American, tend to be somewhat high-handed in their approach.
John Carpenter was very gentle. He was very tender. He really liked talking to actors. He really wanted you to be comfortable. He waited until you were ready to do the scene, and he has a lot of confidence.
Do what you want I don't care. That's the thing to say to an actor. Most people don't understand that. Not to manipulate them. That's what you say to an actor. You got a problem with the whole environment in doing that? Fine, what are we going to do to make the scene work? Now you have someone on your side. Now you have someone working with you.
It's a tremendous asset if you have a visual eye because you can make huge visual statements in a very theatrical way and play to the strength of theatre. But the high end of directing is working with actors and making the acting the best it can be.
