Quotes About Directing

One thing George never did like other directors—I was to later learn, with dismay—was encourage us to "just have fun with it." So many directors have urged me in that amused direction, and I always want to say, "Is that what I'm here for? Fun?

What an amazing opportunity to do something like direct a movie and step out of your creative comfort zone and yet do something that is also so familiar at the same time. I was also just excited to have the chance to direct, which I may never get to do again.

I've never really liked directing. I became a director because I didn't like directors telling me how to edit, and I became a writer because I had to write something in order to be able to direct something. So I did everything out of necessity, but what I really like is editing.

The writing part is always the hardest part of filmmaking. Almost anyone can direct—they won't necessarily direct well, but the machinery works—you can take someone off the street and put them with an experienced crew and the movie will get made. But writing can't be faked. It doesn't run itself. It has to be worked out very specifically, word for word, image for image.

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've acted with all types, I've directed all types. What you want to understand, as a director, is what actors have to offer. They'll get at it however they get at it. If you can understand that, you can get your work done.

For me, to be perfectly honest, the part of my brain that was stimulated by directing was much more exciting than a typical day of acting.

I think that directing is the ultimate martyred task of filmmaking, that it has nobility to it. It takes three years to make a film, for the most part. I think it requires the attentiveness of a mother hen.

You'd be surprised how hard it is getting the human emotional arc in a script to work. Ultimately a director stands and falls by their ability to do that.

I wouldn't want to direct - I think that's a very different job. You have to be a very specific type of person to do that.

Working with Lasse Hallstroem was like a rollercoaster, because he doesn't have one specific vision. It changes daily, or it's always evolving.

I honestly never wanted to direct. It was only when I started to work on 'Alexander the Great' that I realized I had to direct. I saw something so specifically in my mind, I could not leave it to someone else.

Spielberg gave us three takes before saying anything to us. Since then, I do that, three takes, to let the actors find their rhythm.

I've never directed an opening episode of 'GoT' before, until season 8, but I think it's really important to make a splash. You have to reset the table, put everyone back in their place, you have to take them to their next position. But you have to entertain, that's what's most important.

I've worked with directors who have done it too much, particularly in television, you know, 'okay we got it, let's move on, next setup.' 'Well what about, we could maybe investigate?' 'Mmm... no, let's go.'

I remember watching Mel Gibson direct himself on 'Braveheart' and he would do two takes, shrug and move on.

I mean, the shoe - there is a music to it, there is attitude, there is sound, it's a movement. Clothes - it's a different story. There are a million things I'd rather do before designing clothes: directing, landscaping.

If you're directing, it doesn't really matter any more if it's going straight to TV - what matters is whether you have the resources to make a story that moves you.

I don't direct so that I can have an identity and so I can go on to CGI movies. I had a big identity as an actor, and that's not what I'm looking for from directing. Directing is a whole different goal.

Sometimes I get insecure about being a real director because I look at the great directors, and they have such command. But maybe that keeps me critical of myself. Maybe it keeps me moving forward.

When I was eight years old, I asked my mum, 'Mum, can I do two jobs?' And she was like, 'Absolutely!' 'Cause I'd like to act for 15 years and then direct for 15 years.'

Directing is its own monster with its own set of muscles and exercises.

I think the key to directing a great music video is in making sure the song is great, and if it is, then it becomes really fun.

'Evita' obviously would always be very special to me because it was the first major musical that I did on stage and created in the U.K. with Hal Prince directing.