My strength is with actors. I think I'm good at working with them to get the best performances, at seeing what it is that they have and that the story needs.
Sydney PollackRead
The terrible tragedy for every director is to watch an actor do what you want and not have the camera rolling - and never get it back again. So I always try to roll the camera before anybody's really ready.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Directors face the heartbreak of missing a perfect performance, emphasizing the importance of capturing moments.
This quote reflects the frustration directors feel when an actor delivers an outstanding performance, yet it goes unrecorded due to the camera not being ready. Sydney Pollack highlights the need for preparedness and spontaneity in filmmaking, suggesting that creativity should be captured before it's lost, even if it means taking risks before everyone is fully set.
Themes
DirectorActorCameraPerformanceFilm
In practice
Example use cases
During a filmmaking workshop, I shared this quote to illustrate the importance of always being prepared.
More from Sydney Pollack
All quotes βAnd I taught acting for years, and without knowing it that was the real thing that started bending me toward directing.
Sydney PollackRead
If you have a career like mine, which is so identified with Hollywood, with big studios and stars, you wonder if maybe you shouldn't go off and do what the world thinks of as more personal films with lesser-known people. But I think I've fooled everybody. I've made personal films all along. I just made them in another form.
Sydney PollackRead
It's my job to motivate the audience to believe. I have to get them to suspend their judgment in favor of involvement.
Sydney PollackRead
You hope that the responsibility of making movies will fall into the hands of essentially moral people.
Sydney PollackRead
Making a movie is a network of decisions that keep multiplying as you go. You leave a trail of decisions behind you, and that's how you start to see the shape of what you've done. When you get far enough, you turn around and say, 'Ha, that's the movie.' It's only then that you find out if it's going to work or not.
Sydney PollackRead
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