Quotes About Directors

I like directors who come ready to challenge you to ask the right questions about your character, and I know that directors appreciate that in actors as well.

I love Sam Peckinpah.

For me, the most satisfying time to work with people, and time when it really works, is when you work with directors that are into the truth of any sort of situation.

I really like directors who give you a certain amount of autonomy because I think a lot about my characters and I think a lot about scenes and choices.

I can say yes to some directors without even reading a script. But the first-time directors I've worked with, the scripts have not been perfect, but they had something that I liked.

I can't tell you how many incredible directors I long to work with, but then I look at their IMDb page, and they haven't made a single movie about a woman.

I'd be lying if I said Hollywood wasn't still an ambition; it's everyone's, isn't it? You're getting paid very well, you're working with great actors and great directors - who wouldn't want to be a part of that? But it's not going to break my heart if it doesn't happen. This business is about doing good work rather than how famous it makes you.

The parameters are such that I don't get offered a lot of work. I'm sure most directors hear my list of don'ts and say forget it.

In Scotland, we're a colony in more ways than one. So when directors come up to work, there's a very particular way they want Scotland to look like and to behave like.

I had just had small parts in other films, and I'd worked with a lot of directors in TV.

I think directors should be confident in their leadership capabilities. I think directors should be confident in what they want to do.

We all know that teachers are doctors and dentists (for all those lost teeth), coaches and travel agents (for all those field trips), directors and handwriting analysts (for all the papers without names), and counselors and lawyers ("I'll cross-examine you in a second to find out what happened at recess").

You get some directors, and I can never understand it - there's a thing they call the 'video village' where all the monitors are, and you've probably seen it on set visits - I hate that! I never, ever like sitting in video village. I get either my own monitor or a hand held monitor, and I stand right by the camera.

'The X-Files' from the beginning was a very visual show, and with Bob Mandel directing the pilot and Dan Sackheim being involved in the production of the pilot and directing the first episode, they brought a visual style to it that was elaborated on by so many good directors.

There are a lot of directors out there who are very specific, visual craftsmen, and while I have the utmost respect for that, they don't really communicate with the actors.

I like working with south Indian directors because they are very disciplined. They visualize their entire story and screenplay in their heads even before they start shooting, which I respect. They finish their work on time. Being a disciplinarian myself, this suits my style.

A lot of the films now are more focused on the visuals than on the actors. I think all directors should go to drama school.

You have to be very specific with the suggestions of how you want to show things, not just with dialogue but also place and mood. I write all of that as very vivid guidelines so directors can come in and do what they will with them.

In the age of activism that is clearly not going away, it would seem that some form of engagement from directors with shareholders - rather than directors simply taking their cues from management - would go a long way toward helping boards work on behalf of all shareholders rather just the most vocal.

Confusion seems to have become the vogue of European directors.

Going forward, I would love to work with directors like Rian Johnson and Joss Whedon; people like that who are doing big films but do have really independent voices. That's kind of what I want to focus on, is always working with people with at least an independent point of view, even if it's not an independent film.

People believe I am selective. I am not. Directors pick me, not I them.

By and large, I think female directors are far more sensitive.

Whatever I am today is because of my directors. Without their sheer hard work on me, I wouldn't be an actor.