Top 100 Good Director Quotes
#1. I don't care about names attached to the script. That doesn't matter to me. All things being equal, I would like to work with a good script with a good director, and the part I play is of less important than those two factors.
Alan Arkin
#2. Sharing the same vision for what's on the page is always a good idea. The director's job is to establish what that is and make sure that everyone sticks to it when it comes down to actually executing it.
Thomas Jane
#3. As a director you come in and tell the actors how good they are.
Bryan Cranston
#4. There are definitely reasons to do certain things, but I like to stick to good director, good actor, good script.
Amanda Seyfried
#5. I majored in Chinese Studies. I'm probably the only director of chicken Indian zombie movies who can speak pretty good Mandarin.
Lloyd Kaufman
#6. I'd love to do another 'Indiana Jones.' A character that has a history and a potential, kind of a rollicking good movie ride for the audience, Steven Spielberg as a director - what's not to like?
Harrison Ford
#7. Somebody who likes to do my plays is a good director for them.
Tom Stoppard
#8. There are things that I would avoid, so I have the choice to say no, when I feel I'm repeating myself too much. But then there could be a reason to do that with a good director. So I think actors have to have a loose philosophy.
Toby Jones
#9. Good is the director who lets you do what you have to do.
Marc Ribot
#10. If you do well as an actor, a good director will pick up on it, and keep it in the film.
Famke Janssen
#11. I got a nomination for director, which means the world to me; it's just the most exciting thing for me and my family. You do the good hard work, and the rest of it is something you shouldn't get too caught up in, but when it happens - boy! I respect it.
David O. Russell
#12. Movies are certainly a director's medium, so getting the opportunity to work with really good directors is everything to me.
Clive Owen
#13. So yeah, a good director will be able to listen and hear everything, but have a confident vision of his own that he can say, 'oh yeah - that's a great point.' And you never know; often you can help far more than you think you can, because there's so much more that he's juggling than an actor.
Christian Bale
#14. I think the director is becoming more important. To work under rushed conditions, you need to have an extremely professional director. If the director's good than the end result will be good.
Glenn Ford
#15. If the script is good, the cast and director good, I'll go anywhere.
Ken Watanabe
#16. Of course you want to be good and you want to do the best you can, but I am inspired by great writing. If there's something about the script, that's what I go for, although I know that that doesn't always translate because sometimes it's about the vision of the director.
Sally Hawkins
#17. The stories that I want to tell, especially as a director, don't necessarily have a perfect ending because, the older you get, the more you appreciate a good day versus a happy ending. You understand that life continues on the next day; the reality of things is what happens tomorrow.
Drew Barrymore
#18. As a director, you're only as good as your collaborators. You surround with collaborators that are going to understand what you're trying to do. Not only that, they're going to push and fight for what you're trying to do.
Alfonso Cuaron
#19. If you have a script that's not great, if you have a great director, you can make a great movie, but if you have a great script with a director who's not good, never are you going to have a good movie.
Monica Bellucci
#20. I don't want to infantilize the actor; I want to empower the actor. Actors can be many things, but all of the really good ones are really great storytellers, and I'm interested in that. If you're not interested in that as a director then you better be Stanley Kurbrick.
Paul Bettany
#21. I've done a few movies where I really liked the project, but I wasn't sure about the director, and I still did it and my instinct was right, in the beginning. Even though it was a good story, the guy still didn't really know what he was doing.
Ray Liotta
#22. An average director directs. A good director leads and follows at the same time.
Kensington Gore
#23. For me, a director is a director immaterial of the gender. At the end of the day, the audience is only interested in watching a good film.
Boman Irani
#24. In the year and a half I was on SNL, I never saw anybody ad lib anything. For a very good reason - the director cut according to the script. So, if you ad libbed, you'd be off mike and off camera.
Harry Shearer
#25. It is important to be financially savvy when you turn producer. As a director, you just need to have a good script in hand.
Anupam Kher
#26. A director is a man, therefore he has ideas; he is also an artist, therefore he has imagination. Whether they are good or bad, it seems to me that I have an abundance of stories to tell. And the things I see, the things that happen to me, continually renew the supply.
Michelangelo Antonioni
#27. I'd rather have one good scene in a movie by a great director than a small role in a mediocre movie.
Tahar Rahim
#28. I worked with Roger Moore on three episodes of 'The Saint.' He is a lovely man, a good director, and was my favourite actor to work with.
Shirley Eaton
#29. I like to audition for good projects because if it's a good project, it's an opportunity to get in front of a casting director.
Krysten Ritter
#30. 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels' is a good one because it not only turned out, I think, to be a really funny movie but it was also a delight to shoot. We were in the South of France, working with Glenne Headly and Michael Caine and Frank Oz the director - who were just fun.
Steve Martin
#31. When I on set as a director I crazy. My temper is not that good.
Andrew Lau
#32. The good part of working in TV is it's like being a studio director in old Hollywood and approaching different genres. It's a chance to try out different styles.
Mary Harron
#33. If I had to choose criteria, for me, it's about first the director. I want to be a part of something that's good and intellectually challenging. After the director it's the character and the story. That's the deal for me.
Giovanni Ribisi
#34. I don't think a director should have any kids. I don't even think it's good for your physical health. Even guys in their 30s look exhausted because directors never get enough sleep. What I do is stressful enough.
Tom Berenger
#35. I believe that the director is really the soul. It is a collaborative effort, but the director is the one who needs to have that vision. It could be a great script, but it starts from there. You need to have good material, at least, but if you don't have someone with vision, it's just words.
Michelle Yeoh
#36. I thought I'd become a funeral director when I wasn't going to be an actor.. I thought I would be good at helping some people with the grieving process and with trying to get them to talk about and understand who this person was.
Angelina Jolie
#37. As a writer and director, I want to know what is behind the good manners and soft voice. Who is inside the silhouette?
Federico Fellini
#38. I usually work with the director and it's just a collaboration between me and the one person. I think you make good movies that way. If the director and the composer can have this common goal and this excitement about making something great, then you're going to do something good.
Howard Shore
#39. I don't see how it's a risky thing to take a great part with a great director and a great script. That, to me, is not really a dangerous, risky proposition. It's actually a really good choice.
Dennis Quaid
#40. As a director/writer/producer, all you ever want is to work with actors who make you look better, who make the work you do seem as good as it can be and even better than it is.
J.J. Abrams
#41. I don't need a director who's 'good with actors.' ... A master manipulator is heaven.
Frances McDormand
#42. There's obviously something that feels very good about being with a new filmmaker who's very excited, but I also think there's something very comforting in a director who's been around a few times. Both have their pros and cons.
Brie Larson
#43. The smartest thing a director can do is surround himself with really good people.
Scott Ellis
#44. The techniques of different directors are very different, and people have different ways of expressing ideas in film. I'm happiest when working with a director as I would be if I were an actor. I'm wanting to provide a really good performance.
Howard Shore
#45. Give me a good script, and I'll be a hundred times better as a director.
George Cukor
#46. I didn't know I was a good director, and I mean that sincerely. I had done a film a long time ago called 'Cold Around the Heart.' Nobody saw it, and it didn't turn out the way I wanted to.
John Ridley
#47. I don't need to work right away. I'd rather wait for something really good; to be excited about a role, or a director, or a project.
Nina Dobrev
#48. I sketched out a rough story for them and the director said, well it's a good story but we have the go-ahead from Universal to make this script and did I want to do it. I said no, and they left.
Ellen Burstyn
#49. Tarantino is the coolest damn guy; he's just so much fun to work with. He might be the best director I've ever worked with. He just seems to know how to do it and he knows how to make you feel good about it. He's having so much fun you start having fun. You can't help it.
David Carradine
#50. As the cinematographer is usually more visual than the director is and full cooperation is really the answer and to make a great film, you need a good director and you need a good cinematographer.
Vilmos Zsigmond
#51. I'd love to do a Michel Gondry film. That would be ideal! I'd love to do an Almodovar film; you know, I think he's very, very talented. I don't care that people say he's pretentious. So what? He's a good director; he can be pretentious.
William Moseley
#52. I think that for the actors, the last thing that they want is a director that's not watching, a director that goes 'Okay, it sounded good to me,' and they were doing something else or preoccupied with something else because they were worried about the light changing.
Gus Van Sant
#53. It's fun to do something funny and have the director laughing. It makes you feel good.
Jon Lovitz
#54. My tendency as an actor was to correct people, was to say, 'What if we tried it this way, what about if we tried that way?' That's terrible habit for an actor, but that's a good habit for director. So I became a director.
David Mamet
#55. More often than not, if you've got a good director and a good script you can't really go wrong.
Douglas Booth
#56. You either are a good director or you're not.
Rebecca Hall
#57. My aunt put my cousins into a children's modelling agency, then my mum did it with us. Me and my sister got a few TV adverts, which was good pocket money. A director saw photos of me and asked me to do a short film.
Sullivan Stapleton
#58. A music director cannot and should not be chosen on the basis of a first date. It is not so difficult to make a good impression with a single appearance, usually containing some of a conductor's party pieces, works they have performed successfully many times before.
Leonard Slatkin
#59. There's no such thing as an actor giving positive criticism to a director. The minute you say 'Don't you think it would look nicer ... ', that director's going to hate your guts. Particularly if it's a good idea.
Peter Mullan
#61. The thrill of doing 'Good People' is I love those kinds of stories, and I'm good at them, and it's wonderful to see that material given to a terrific director and a terrific cast.
Kelly Masterson
#62. I've had unsatisfying experiences, but mostly it's about communication, which is why I make an effort to talk to the director beforehand to make sure we see eye-to-eye as creative individuals. If [good] communication isn't present, you can lose something and end up very unhappy.
Martin Starr
#63. It's always a good collaboration between the actor and the writer and the director to try stuff out, during the process.
Mark Consuelos
#64. I don't read critics, and I don't care what they say. You can't let them steal your soul. You do what the director and production is committed to doing. I just think it's terrible that critics have the power to keep people away from a good production.
Blythe Danner
#65. An actor is only a part of the film, not the whole, and very often, he is moulded by the director. That is why a good director can make so much difference to a film.
Anupam Kher
#66. I'm sure anyone who likes a good crime, provided it is not the victim.
Alfred Hitchcock
#67. When you can find a strong character and a director that does want to protect the integrity of all characters, female and male, then you have a good deal.
Amber Heard
#68. No director wants to be directed, but no good director ... would shy away from the good ideas of others.
Tommy Lee Jones
#69. I'm really open to anything that's good. If I read something and it's good, and I like the director, it never really needs to be a specific type of character.
Kevin Durand
#70. I always go back to the original material. I want a good connection as the composer and writer of the score to the director and to the source material. It's really important.
Howard Shore
#71. 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?
Orson Welles
#72. A good director's not sure when he gets on the set what he's going to do.
Elia Kazan
#73. For example I don't work with William Hurt the same way that I will work with Viggo. They're different guys and they work in different ways. So a good sensitive director has his general style and technique and personality that he uses but you don't impose that on the actors.
David Cronenberg
#74. I'm not really a director for hire. You read these scripts and go, 'This is a really great script, but Paul Greengrass would make this so much better than me.' I usually say, 'I know who would be good for this. It's not me.'
Stephen Daldry
#75. I've always had good relationships with directors. I'm one of those people where, if there's a good idea coming from the sound guy, I'll take it. Filmmaking is a collaborative effort, whether it's a first-time director or it's Mike Nichols. I think that's the standard that the great ones set.
Patrick Wilson
#76. Being a good director is knowing sometimes when not to say something.
Gary Oldman
#77. David Boreanaz is actually a very good director and he directed one of our episodes. Excellent director, knew exactly what he wanted. We never had long days with David. He was great, he knew exactly what he wanted and he's a fantastic director.
Michael Clarke Duncan
#78. A musical is only as good as its director. The same can also be said for the CIA.
Martin Short
#79. A good director has to be a captain - he has to work with a lot of people every day.
Melanie Laurent
#80. If I get lucky and I can choose, I would always choose a really good story and screenplay, even if I don't know the director. If there's a good screenplay, there's a chance that something good is going to happen.
Ayelet Zurer
#81. Yes, they allowed us to play around a lot because, like we said, the director's such a good comedy director.
Kevin McDonald
#82. I'm just trying to find a good project. Work with a good director, someone I really admire. Find a good role.
Logan Lerman
#83. I've been directed by other actors, and being an actor doesn't make you a good director.
Laurie Metcalf
#84. A great difference between May and Day is the M and D! Be a good Managing Director of your life each day in May.
Ernest Agyemang Yeboah
#85. With 'Eagle of the Ninth,' every shot was extremely planned and organized. The director was like, 'Do this!' And I say, 'How was it?' and he says, 'Good.' It was very odd. I would never know where he was headed, or even if he was shooting me at a close-up or from a distance.
Tahar Rahim
#86. You have to be talentedly insecure in order to be a good actress. And then it's the director's job to make you more miserable and get a good take.
Shirley Maclaine
#87. When I see a short schedule, my question to the director is, are you really comfortable with this, or are you doing it to be a good boy? At the end, you only win the medal if the film is good, you don't win a medal if the movie is on time.
Guillermo Del Toro
#88. A lot of directors don't know what they want to do. Every director I've seen that was a good director that I've admired knew exactly what he wanted to do. They didn't sit there and think about it.
John Milius
#89. One would hope that you would have a CBO director who does not let ideology get in the way of making good estimates, [Congress] values having a credible institution that they can rely on to give them the best estimates possible.
Alice Rivlin
#90. With a book I am the writer and I am also the director and I'm all of the actors and I'm the special effects guy and the lighting technician: I'm all of that. So if it's good or bad, it's all up to me.
George R R Martin
#91. It's always the script first choosing roles. [Then] whoever else is attached. I never like to be the first person attached, because I don't really trust what's going on, unless there's a really good director.
Christopher Mintz-Plasse
#92. Because I've made a film with such an amazing director as Tarantino, I'm much more conscious of working with good directors from now on, so that's what's important to me. I don't really care about making a big movie - I just want to make good ones.
Melanie Laurent
#93. I would consider doing any part as long as the script is good and the film has an interesting director.
Daniel Radcliffe
#94. I believe that there's good content or bad content. You see interviews when somebody interviews a director of a movie that didn't perform well in the box office, and he says, 'The audience didn't understand my movie.' If people didn't go to buy the ticket, then you did the wrong movie.
Emilio Azcarraga Jean
#95. I always used to say, as a director, that I could make anybody good in a movie if you found the right part. It all comes down to casting.
Corbin Bernsen
#96. As a director, I really wanted to learn and I needed to get away from my own stuff to figure out how to just do things and work with good people.
Paul Feig
#97. For me, the greatest kind of success that I've had on a particular project or in exploring a role does come through collaboration. I wouldn't want to do a movie where everything I do the director just says, "Good job" and I'm under directed.
Miles Teller
#98. It's more fun to play a good character with a good director and good actors around you. That's what makes it fun, and the more variety, the better.
Salma Hayek
#99. I had to be naked [in Vinyl], but I was almost more nervous about having to be drunk. The director wasn't going to yell, "Too big!," during the nude scene. For the drunk scene, you can be bad drunk or good drunk. We'll see. My wife was not happy, hearing about it.
Ray Romano
#100. My passion is becoming involved in good work, whether that means as an actor or writer or director or producer or all - that is not as important to me.
Bryan Cranston
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