Quotes About Directing

Arnold and Jamie Lee must have worked over the years with directors that did 50 takes, because I'd get like three takes or so and say, Ok, that's it, we're done.

Directing is really my favorite thing to do, but if I never directed again, I'd be okay if all the work I did was good.

I think in the old days, films really went for the shock, with the blood and guts, but movies are getting better. The writing and directing have improved a lot, because the audience demands it.

One of the things I wanted to do was direct. There've been a couple of times that a director will walk up and say something to me, and all it does is make me mad. Inside I'll go, 'Well, that wasn't helpful at all.'

When I directed my first short - 'American Virgin' - I had no idea if I could actually do it. Like, I might just get onto set, have everyone look at me and just completely freeze and have no idea what to do. But pretty much the opposite of that happened. I was like a fish diving into the sea.

Directors tell me I should direct because the questions I am asking are the questions that they are asking rather than the questions that they expect to come from an actor. I do get that a lot. But there's a great difference between being able to stand there and make suggestions when it ultimately doesn't stop at you versus when it does. I think my issue with directing would probably be that I am kind of a loner. I like being responsible for myself.

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.

I'd quite like to direct. I don't think it will happen, but my urge is that way inclined.

Photography is a hobby born out of my time in undergrad at USC. It is more of a pleasurable hobby, a stress reliever. I don't consider it a professional endeavor like acting or directing.

I'm starting at USC's film school for directing this month. I'll try to get a semester in at a time. I'll have to take time off for work throughout school, but it will be nice to get through a little bit.

When I'm directing, I noticed I'm not using my subconscious at all. I'm literally using the whole front part of my brain all the time. When you walk on the set, every moment you have to be there because something's going on that requires attention.

It would be a great vacation to act in a movie if I weren't directing it. But to do it while you're directing interferes with your concentration, and I wouldn't do that again.

I was a member of Circle Rep; I had done a little bit of directing there. I remember that I had a vacation from 'Angels', in which I remounted a play that I had done out of town called 'Three Hotels.' That's how I spent my week vacation.

I would love to direct one day. I value the relationship that I have with a director so much, and I would be really excited to be on the other end of that relationship.

I want to direct and work with the youngins and the fabulous actors of today.

I love to direct my daughter, and act with her, and we both want to work with Jane again.

I became a real Shell Motor Oil expert, and I did this 25-minute film. It turned out really well and, as a result, they offered me more work and lots of commercials to direct.

I really enjoy directing television because you get to work in so many different genres and with different people.

As a director, I try not to implement a way for working, for every single actor, across the board. I try to work with each one, on an individual basis.

To do six to 10 episodes of high-quality writing, and then be able to go direct my own things, and do a movie, if it comes along, sure. I just want to act and do good work.

I look for the ability to work. Directing is hard work. They don't teach you that in film school. Critics are not aware of it, but it is hard, physical work.

It was always my intention to direct. I went to film school. And then I wanted to know how to work with actors, so I went to acting school. And then by the end of that, I caught the bug.

[Martin Scorsese ] basically works just like any other director. You work the scene, you try to find what's best in it and make it work. That's what it was like.

Directing is such a crucial part of the writing process; you start directing and you see what does not work. "Oh, God, what was I thinking?" and then you can rearrange it.