I think the most insulting thing you can do to a director is to challenge when he or she is satisfied with your interpretation.
When an actor plays a scene exactly the way a director orders, it isn't acting. It's following instructions. Anyone with the physical qualifications can do that.
I had read too many memoirs that were written after the writer or the director was past his or her prime.
I think Star Trek has been very double-edged for all of us - as actors, writers, directors.
When I feel like being a director, I write a novel.
I'm doing a little consulting. I'm somewhat retired, still a director of a company or two.
I've never directed anything before 'Mad Men,' so I don't feel I have any advice for the other directors.
I'm on the board of directors for Peace Now, which works tirelessly between the Palestinians and the Israelis to create peace in the Middle East and we've never been closer.
Being a director, whether you're in rehearsal or you're in auditions or you're in a creative meeting, is so much to me about being present in the moment. There's a sense of time stopping.
Every time you say yes to a film there's a certain percentage of your yes that has to do with the director, a certain percentage to do with the story, a certain percentage with the character, the location, etc.
I began taking liberties a long time ago; now it is standard practice for most directors to ignore the rules.
I still can't quite believe it. Although there was something about the fact that it was a first-time writer, a first-time producer, and a first-time director all at the same time.
I think all of the directors I've worked with are mostly curious about the time I had on 'Eyes Wide Shut.' They really just want to know about it. They're all fans of Kubrick.
I'm not so bothered by the audition process anymore; in fact, I use it. It's a time for the actor to actually get to the know the director and the producers a little bit, too.
The thing that fascinates me is that the way I came to film and television is extinct. Then there were gatekeepers, it was prohibitively expensive to make a film, to be a director you had to be an entrepreneur to raise money.
I would say that the directors that I've liked the most are all curious in nature - curious thinkers. They're all big questioners, I would say, first and foremost.
The program director at a radio station, by the way, is not the superstar. If he was a superstar, he'd be out creating songs, but he's not. But he wants to act like he has control and power.
I have so much respect for directors. It's a tremendous amount of pressure; you have to keep steadfast and keep what you know is right.
It's sad - it's sad for us old enough to remember when directors ruled, and films were substantially better than they are today. But it's hard to argue with those kinds of grosses.
Historically the director has been the key creative element in a film and we must maintain that. We must protect that, in spite of the fact that there is new technology that's continually trying to erode that.
The first and primary requirement for me in a director that I'd want to work with is: do they love writing, and do they love the collaboration process with writers?
