When I'm on set, I don't really think about what an audience is going to think about a scene. I'm just thinking about how I can make it best. And how I can enjoy myself most.
Moving from chair to chair, from coffee machine to coffee machine is the limit of my action in most films. But I enjoy being cast in them because I love watching them.
I don't know much about writing a show or being a show-runner on a show, but I can only imagine that when you first cast a show and you first do a pilot, there are so many components that you're throwing into the mix and you're not sure how they're going to develop.
Really top-notch directors, I've often worked with them just to see how they work.
I did direct two short movies. I learned many things, and one of the things I learned was that I am not a director. It has to be visceral, and it's not for me. I feel much more comfortable acting.
'Do the Right Thing' was like the first film where I really felt comfortable working with actors.
It is a challenge to direct any film.
My work as an actor is limited by the voice of the director and the writing.
I didn't feel like going any further in this scene with the boy. He was not a professional actor, and if I had pushed the scene any further it would have destroyed the tone of the movie.
My favorite films left the camera rest, and the actors and characters have a stage to act. Move the camera when it's motivating.
I'd like to have a go at directing.
The script is so important... Even if you have a huge entourage or big lighting trucks, the most important thing is the space between the actor and the camera.
People will say, 'There are a million ways to shoot a scene,' but I don't think so. I think there are two, maybe. And the other one is wrong.
When I'm directing a movie, nothing else matters.
There's a rhythm and a cadence in a scene, and when an actor understands without any real direction from you, then that's a very valuable gift. And some people get it, and some people don't.
Over the years with movies, I've given directors notes.
The scene where I took my eyelashes off we did in two takes.
When I'm shooting a film, I don't look at playback. I don't go and do a scene and then hurry up and watch what I just did. I never look at it so I haven't seen any of it.
I've worked with some terrific actors. The list of guys that came on the 'Columbo' show, I mean they were world-class actors from all over the world - Oskar Werner, Laurence Harvey, Donald Pleasence, you know... foreigners.
Directing a movie is serious, it's not a joke.
Directors are the fulcrum of the movie. They guide us well, not merely rein actors in. Whenever we stray, they bring us back on track.
When I was doing 'All in the Family,' half the time, I was looking at where the cameras were, where were the other actors in the scene, what the audience was doing.
I've worked with multiple directors throughout the 'Saw' series with a lot of conversations as they bring their particular installment to the screen. If I've been able to do anything throughout the course of these films, it's been to help shape dialogue and to try to make things as delicate and as intelligent as I can.
When you're shooting a TV show, sometimes it's more about, like, the blocking: it's usually - it's really fast. 'Walk here, walk here, walk and talk here.'
Producers and directors think they have the power, but what they think of as the weakest link, the actor, is all-powerful.
