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You can have good writing, but a great actor will make it feel and sound like great writing. You can have great writing, and mediocre actors will make it feel mediocre. Without the actors, you have nothing.

I have made a lot of movies, but I don't see any point in talking about films I don't think are terribly good. I have been in a few. I don't know any actor that hasn't.

To be a great actor you just need to comprehend, so that's why I became a writer.

Casting a film, you can have the greatest actors in a film and it doesn't work. It's a combination of all of the elements.

The way the films look will never entertain an audience alone. It has to be in the service of a good story with great characters.

There are a lot of people out there who offer roles to actors because they'll elevate their movie to a place the movie would never reach.

There are three things that are important for a film. Number one is story, number two is story, number three is story. Good actors can save a bad script and make it bearable, but good actors can't make a bad script good - they can just make it bearable.

As a writer, all you want to do is write for great actors. That's all.

It's amazing what you can do without in terms of filmmaking when a story is really important.

Fundamentally, whether directing in the theatre or a film, you have to be a good storyteller, regardless of the form. The thing I had to work hardest at was thinking in shots.