On-Set Collaboration Quotes

I think it's counterproductive for actors to come to the set with well-thumbed copies of the book their film is adapted from.

My work as an actor is limited by the voice of the director and the writing.

Sometimes I think of movie acting as advanced pretend.

Acting is really about showing up that day and telling the writers what you feel like saying.

Directing has only increased my admiration and respect for what it is that actors do.

I am totally a director's actor.

The fact of the matter is that an actor, if I'm playing a performance capture role and you're playing a live action role and we're having a scene together, there's no difference in our acting processes.

A perfect example is 'Zero Dark Thirty.' That's the closest thing to reportage that I've done because a lot of that was shooting from the hip and found images and giving the actors a lot of freedom to explore the space and not have to repeat their actions twice and basically workshop on-camera.

It's natural for any actor that segues into directing to be an actor's director. You know how to relate to the actors.

Once you begin shooting, Bollywood actors get totally involved in their roles, and that gives you an edge in getting what you want out of them.

Acting in something that I'm directing... I'm really enjoying it because, if for no other reason, that particular acting is like reading my mind on every single take. It's kind of efficient, for better or worse.

The best working experiences I've had are with directors who want to create with you while you're on set. I prefer a much freer environment. That's why I'm always trying to mess things up, just to know that I can!

I miss the comraderie of live television - the fact that you were on the set, you worked closely with the director and the cast, that I miss. But, no, I'm happy, I'm happy doing film.

Film acting, if you don't play the lead, you come, and you do your scenes in a few days, and you act with a couple of colleagues. All the rest of the actors you never see, and you don't even meet many of them. And you don't know what will happen with what you've done. Maybe it will be in the film, maybe it will not.

Sometimes a scene works and acting is the easiest thing in the world and you don't have to do much of anything - just enjoy yourself and listen to the other actor. When it doesn't work, then every actor has different ways of dealing with the impasse. Sometimes you use memories from the past. Whatever. It depends from job to job.

It's very difficult to find the time or the money for people to organize rehearsals for some movies. It staggers me how little preparation often goes into these scenes which are difficult and complicated. You think, "God, it's crazy. I've never met this person before and here I am having to work at how to do a whole performance on the set." It was great to have a few days of just talking to Michael [Caine] and Daniel [Barber] and thinking about the characters and the relationship between them before we started shooting.

A lot of times, as an actor, especially a TV or film actor, you don't get a lot of interaction, or you don't get the feeling you are actually touching someone, or someone actually cares about what you do.

I did 'Vice' with Christian Bale and 'Foxcatcher' with Steve Carell - both of those films had significant prosthetic work. You do need to be cognizant of the fact that the material that you're photographing is not skin.

After 30 years in the theater, I'm used to having a great amount of control over what I do. But with '24', you place your character's life in the writers' hands, and you have no idea what's going to happen until you're sent the next pages.

I have been a scrappy actor for 10-plus years, and when you're playing supporting roles, your relationship with the costume designer is very different.

When you're guest-starring on another show, it really requires you to jump through hoops in a way, because you're servicing the stories of the main characters. You have to be able to portray a lot of different elements. You show up and get on board and get on their journey; you have to be flexible as to what they need for the role.

I love working with the actors eye-to-eye. I think something gets lost in translation, not only through a monitor, but when you leave the area where the actual scene is taking place.

Generally speaking, actors are allowed NO input. Actors are dumb.

Working with a great actor is really educational.

On a film set, for me, there's so much more time to process what's going on than there is on a television set. There's more wiggle room to try things and fail and try again and get to the heart of what's going on in the scene, which is really fun for me. It's what I like to do.