Quotes About Performance

They call David O. Russell the actor whisperer because he can get stuff out of actors that maybe some other directors can't.

I've constantly done my best to get the best material I can get with the best directors I can get to direct me.

I'm very interested in directing actors - many directors direct cameras.

Working with actors really depends on the actor. Most of the directors I've worked with don't really know how to speak to actors, actually; some of the best directors don't.

Most actors are pretty adaptable because we work with so many directors.

I'm not a particularly ambitious actress. I love to go and do my work, head down in the dirt, and be the character.

I think all the actors I've worked with knew that I was an actor. Like, I get into the dirt with my actors and we figure out the rhythm of the scene and how it needs to sound and what the blocking is, the way you would with another actor.

Bob Saget is the dirtiest comic who's ever lived. Nobody touches him.

I've never been a dirty comic.

Playing without a crowd is a disadvantage.

Stand-up's a lottery - you think it's funny but the audience can disagree.

Once, Pina Bausch was about something, however disagreeable.

When I sing songs, I love to put emotion into it. I want people to feel what I feel and just disappear for a moment.

If you think about what acting is supposed to be, my job is to disappear.

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

I just think the less you know about an actor, the more serious you'll take them as an actor because they will disappear a little bit.

Some actors say they don't know themselves at all, and that's why they act: because they can disappear into other people.

I want to disappear in a role.

Obviously when you do start with a two-shot lead you feel like you should win, but a two-shot lead is nothing really. It can disappear really fast.

When I'm performing, the crowd just disappears, it's like everyone merges - one big person. You just say the words and people will say the words back to you. And it's just so rehearsed. I have a lot of songs I couldn't forget the words if I tried. So you get in there, you lose yourself and it's all good.

Tilda Swinton is a great example of a person who completely disappears into a role.

When someone invests in you, I don't want to disappoint them. I want to be the player they think they're getting.

With my work in 'Mardaani' being well-received, I am more aware than ever that I have to keep the game up. I don't want to disappoint myself as an actor first and let my audience down.

The only pressure on me is that I should never disappoint my audience.