Direction Style Quotes

I'm a pretty hands-off director. I let people try things, and if it gets over-jokey, then I'll try and rein it in a little bit.

Don't worry about telling your actor what to do.

The way Woody Allen directs, there isn't a lot of direction. He kind of might give a few gentle suggestions, but he really says right from the first day, "Just make it sound natural, and if you don't like something, put it in your own words." And [Woody Allen] gives you a lot of freedom and just very polite.

I don't actually like blocking actors. I prefer giving actors freedom. They don't have to step on a precise mark with me. Instead of giving marks to the actors I like to give marks to the camera.

My approach with actors is to try and give them whatever it is they need from me. Direction to me is about listening and responding and realizing how much they need to know from me and how much they have figured out for themselves, really.

I try to direct myself the way I direct the other actors who come on my show.

I guess once you've been acting for a long time, you glean the great bits of good directors and the bad bits from other directors, and you know the way that you would like to be directed.

Good directors give short and specific instructions to their actors.

I would love to work with the Coen brothers and Terrence Malick. I love both of their bodies of work so much, so I'm really interested in acting under their direction.

The phrase you usually hear after a cut is "That was great. Perhaps we could have another go. Maybe try it this way." Even that much direction is prefaced with a lot of praise and encouragement. It's quite like how you deal with toddlers: positive reinforcement, and then a little suggestion that you might want to try something different. Roman Polanski will stop the take and shout, "No, no, no!" Which is somewhat alarming the first time it happens.

The style of direction in 'Room,' maybe a little bit like 'Spotlight,' tries to be hidden.

If you have the right actors and you can give them the freedom to explore, you've done a lot of your work as a director.

I am always more interested in performance and character depiction, and my direction says as much.

I liked Vittorio De Sica a lot, and I got to work with him once in a segment movie. He was a great director. He was a very charismatic character and a guy I watched a lot when he was directing.

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