I think one of the major things a director has to do is to know his subject matter, the subject matter of his script, know the truth and the reality of it. That's very important.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
For me, it's important that the script is good. Then a good director will want to make it.
I think it's important that a director be able to know his characters inside and out.
The director is the ultimate creative arbiter of what's going to happen. And as a director myself, you really appreciate collaborating with people who are trying to help you find what you need and what you want.
The point of having a director is that they make the final decision; it's their point of view, they set the rhythm and they make the final decisions.
What a director really does is set the emotional temperature and the mood and the level, amount, or lack of, distance between the action and the character, and the character and the audience.
It's not about the script: it's about who the director is and who the other people in the cast are. Because you can look at a great script and execute it in a very sophomoric way, and you can look at an OK script, and you can execute it in a very sophisticated way and come out with something really good.
Directors have so much else to do besides tell actors what to do. There are so many issues and problems.
It's very rare that you get a director that lets you be creative and bring what you feel your character should do or should be.
Whatever it takes, the job of the director is to be the leader and to get your actors where they need to go. That's a philosophy that I have.
As a director, it is important to understand the actor's process.