Quote

On 'Silver Linings Playbook,' David O. Russell is the master at getting his actors to give him something that he doesn't expect. He loves to keep things spontaneous. He talks to the actors throughout a take because, in real life, you don't know what the next person is going to say; you don't know when you're going to get interrupted.

David O. Russell is probably my favorite filmmaker. He's not only a great director, but he's also a great writer.

As an actor, you're in the hands of producers and directors. It's important to find out who you're working with.

Roles make the actor.

But I don't really care for directors flaring up and trying to humble some actor, which they would do to try and make an example out of them so everybody else would stay on the ball - and David wasn't anything like that.

Actors look for characters. If they read a well-written character, and if they think the director's not an idiot, they're going to sign up and do some acting.

When actors are the real deal, all that star whatever goes right out the window and you're there to tell a story.

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.

Being a star is an agent's dream, not an actor's.

As an actor, you want a director who makes you feel comfortable in a place that you can really create and try a lot of different things.