Quotes on Directors

Film is the manipulative medium par excellence. When you think back on the history of film and the 20th century, you see the propaganda that's been made. So there are moral demands on the director to treat the spectators as seriously as he or she takes himself and not to see them merely as victims that can be manipulated to whatever ends they have.

A man sooner or later discovers that he is the master-gardener of his soul, the director of his life.

Do I feel that white directors have to tell only white stories? No. Do I feel that black filmmakers should only tell stories about black people? No. If we say that, then that means Asian people cannot write about anybody but Asians. I don't think a woman should only write about women.

I am bowled over by the massive number of remarkable people who face down the fact that no, they are not going to be film directors, famous artists, or billionaire entrepreneurs and still come out the other side as cheerful, decent, gracious human beings.

There are some directors who actually fear the possible success of music. They fear that the audience or the critics will think the film has worked because there was a very good music score.

Writing for television is completely different from movie scriptwriting. A movie is all about the director's vision, but television is a writer's medium.

Being known as a writer did change the relationships I had with directors. The rap on actors is that they always want to inflate their parts. But when directors know you write screenplays and have a different view of things, you really get invited into the huddle in a much fuller way. And those collaborations end in friendships.

I've figured out what to do so far, but it's always the next thing you come to where the man with the bucket of ice cold water is waiting - whoosh! in your face. That's why you work with directors who know what to tell you to do.

Very, very broadly speaking, you can put directors into two areas: One for whom you work, and the other with whom you work. And I prefer the latter, for obvious reasons. It's a great relief to feel that you're working with someone rather than for someone.

Many plays - certainly mine - are like blank checks. The actors and directors put their own signatures on them.

Good evening, ladies and gentleman. My name is Orson Welles. I am an actor. I am a writer. I am a producer. I am a director. I am a magician. I appear onstage and on the radio. Why are there so many of me and so few of you?

My parents said, Oh, he's going to be a director someday. I wanted to be an actor.

If I weren't a director, I would want to be a film composer.

Fathering is a major job, but I need both things in my life: my job to be a director, and my kids to direct me.

Some things you know about, you know what the ingredients are - maybe not all of them. But it's up to you to put in the amount. It's up to the director to nag you until you get it right.

People have forgotten how to tell a story.

I think all directors should be animators.

There was always a part of me that wanted to be an old-time director. But I couldn't do that. I'm not a pro.

When a filmmaker does not make films it is as if he is jailed. Even when he is freed from the small jail, he finds himself wandering in a larger jail. The main question is: Why should it be a crime to make a movie? A finished film, well, it can get banned but not the director.

Each picture has some sort of rhythm which only the director can give it. He has to be like the captain of a ship.

A film is - or should be - more like music than like fiction.