Sam Mendes Quotes

Quotes about:

• Directing Skyfall was one of the best experiences of my professional life, but I have theatre and other commitments, including productions of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and King Lear, that need my complete focus over the next year and beyond.

  Sam Mendes

  Kings, Commitment, Years

  "Sam Mendes Won't Direct Bond 24". Interview with Phil De Semlyen, www.empireonline.com. March 6, 2013.

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• Confidence is essential, but ego is not.

  Sam Mendes

  Ego, Essentials

  "Sam Mendes’s 25 Rules for Directors". Interview with Bennett Marcus, www.vanityfair.com. March 11, 2014.

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• The characters are trapped within the lifestyle. It's about what goes on before the movie starts.

  Sam Mendes

  Character, Goes On, Lifestyle

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• You think about taking audiences on a journey.

  Sam Mendes

  Journey, Thinking, Audience

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• The importance of rehearsal is maybe you want to talk about how the scene's going to be designed, how it's going to be staged, all of those things. It's all about preparation, and deciding what mutually you don't want to do, rather than necessarily what you do.

  Sam Mendes

  Preparation, Rehearsal, Want

  Source: www.avclub.com

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• The movies that influenced me were movies that told their stories through pictures more than words.

  Sam Mendes

  Movie, Stories

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• Truly great actors carry their characters in silence with them. They communicate without words the relationships that predate the movie.

  Sam Mendes

  Character, Talking, Silence

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• Learn to say, “I don’t know the answer.” It could be the beginning of a very good day’s rehearsal.

  Sam Mendes

  Good Day, Answers, Rehearsal

  "Sam Mendes’s 25 Rules for Directors". Interview with Bennett Marcus, www.vanityfair.com. March 11, 2014.

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• I suppose once in a while, a filmmaker makes a movie that's more than just a sum of its parts, more than good acting or good filmmaking. It's something else that has nothing to do with what you've done. This is in 1999, made by people in 1999 for people in 1999 about people in 1999.

  Sam Mendes

  People, Acting, Done

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• I am not a master-class director. I am not a teacher. I am a coach. I dont have a methodology. Each actor is different. And on the film set, you have to be next to them all.

  Sam Mendes

  Teacher, Class, Directors

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• You've got to work. You've got to want an audience to sit forward in their chairs sometimes, rather than sit back and be bombarded with images.

  Sam Mendes

  Bombarded By, Want, Sometimes

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• For me, certain shots or scenes are keys in the movie.

  Sam Mendes

  Keys, Scene, Shots

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• I've directed bits of action and so I know that it's long and it's very detailed. Editing action is a good deal more exciting than shooting action. Shooting action is very, very meticulous, it's increments, tiny little pieces.

  Sam Mendes

  Editing, Long, Pieces

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• I think movies are a director's medium in the end. Theater is the actor's medium. Theater is fast, and enjoyable, and truly rewarding. I believe in great live performance.

  Sam Mendes

  Believe, Thinking, Directors

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• I want to inspire, and be inspired.

  Sam Mendes

  Inspire, Want, Inspired

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• There's one thing better than having a great actor, and that's having a great actor who's never done this kind of role before and is hungry to do it. They're testing themselves every day. They want to get out of their trailer and get to work.

  Sam Mendes

  Roles, Actors, Done

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• I don't think good and evil are polarized.

  Sam Mendes

  Thinking, Evil, Good And Evil

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• There have been screenwriters who I'm sure would gladly kill me, because I've been very fast and loose with their work, because I felt like it wasn't up to my high standards. I would push and pull it on set, and make changes all the time. But then when you're working with an original screenplay, my theater instincts kick in, and I suddenly become very keeper-of-the-words.

  Sam Mendes

  High Standards, Making Changes, Instinct

  Interview with Scott Tobias, www.avclub.com. June 2, 2009.

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• It took me a long time to film the plastic bag, and then I had to get the cut of the scene right. But if you find it as beautiful as the character does, then suddenly it becomes a different movie, and so did he as a character.

  Sam Mendes

  Beautiful, Character, Cutting

  "A Private, Interior Film". Interview with Stephen Short, www.cnn.com.

  53 Copy quote

• I wanted to keep exploring... I'm not about to choose a series of movies in which I can use the same bag of tricks and style that I used in the first film.

  Sam Mendes

  Style, Bags, Use

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• Actors get pigeonholed very quickly, particularly movie actors. In the theater, one is more used to casting people against type and trusting that their talent and skill will get them through.

  Sam Mendes

  Skills, People, Actors

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• Thank God I don't live in Los Angeles. I think if you're there the whole time it just gets out of proportion and you lose touch completely with reality.

  Sam Mendes

  Thank You, Reality, Thinking

  "A Private, Interior Film". Interview With Stephen Short, www.cnn.com.

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• You just never know when movies are going to take off or not. The lucky thing about this was that it didn't cost a lot of money, and therefore there wasn't loads of pressure on me.

  Sam Mendes

  Lucky, Cost, Pressure

  "A Private, Interior Film". Interview with Stephen Short, www.cnn.com.

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• Shooting action is very, very meticulous, it's increments, tiny little pieces.

  Sam Mendes

  Pieces, Shooting, Littles

  "Director Sam Mendes Talks SKYFALL, How to Craft a Bond Film, the Franchise’s Similarity to DOCTOR WHO, and More". Interview with Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub, collider.com. May 1, 2012.

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• Politicizing of kids starts with pregnancy, of course. You shouldn't be drinking wine. You can't be smoking, either. The poor woman is poked and prodded and touched and obsessed over.

  Sam Mendes

  Drinking, Pregnancy, Wine

  Interview with Scott Tobias, www.avclub.com. June 2, 2009.

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