You can't just sit there and do the lines. You have to do something revealing or unusual.
You have to remind people of their own struggles. It's a responsibility.
I was even superior to the Communists and when they didn't go along with me, I quit them.
I was the true future. I understood Communism better than they did.
I gave my life to the Group Theatre, because in it I'm building something for myself. What I build, I am.
Very often the Group actor is a critic when he's acting and an actor when he's criticizing.
There is only one thing I respect in so-called Broadway actors... and that is their competitive sense.
I may be getting old, but not foolish.
I owe Bankhead a gift; she made a director out of me.
I will say nothing to an actor that cannot be translated into action.
Every picture that is successful has one little miracle in it.
A film director has to get a shot, no matter what he does. We're desperate people.
I didn't have that much confidence. Maybe it looks that way. I'm glad it does.
The makers of entertainment must try, in our field, to be honest and grown-up.
The belief that the good in American society will finally win out... I don't believe any more.
A good director's not sure when he gets on the set what he's going to do.
I like directors who come on the set and create something that's a little dangerous, difficult or unusual.
The more ambivalent you are and the more uncertain you are, then you can get something that you cannot anticipate.
When you know what an actor has, you can reach in and arouse it. If you don't know what he has, you don't know what the hell is going on.
I said to Tennessee, this thing is becoming the Marlon Brando show.
