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 Quote

All I know is that I operate by going out to each of them and trying to learn the territory in which they operate. My language to each of them has to suit their brain.
- Sam Mendes Quote

For me, certain shots or scenes are keys in the movie.
- Sam Mendes Quote

I deliberately, in a way, went for something that was a huge challenge and was a big period film. I was excited about the canvas on which I could tell the story as much as the story itself.
- Sam Mendes Quote

I don't think of it as a competition - which might surprise you, given the way movies are reported constantly.
- Sam Mendes Quote

I still can't quite believe it. Although there was something about the fact that it was a first-time writer, a first-time producer, and a first-time director all at the same time.
- Sam Mendes Quote

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 Quote

I think with Blair Witch and The Sixth Sense, people are much more open to something that is different.
- Sam Mendes 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 Quote

If you lived through the shooting of Jaws, you can live through anything.
- Sam Mendes Quote

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 Quote

It's a risk casting anyone against type or what they're known to do. But there's one thing better than having a great actor, which is having a great actor who's never done what you're asking him to do. He's hungry to get out of the trailer every day and hungry to test himself.
- Sam Mendes Quote

Kevin and Annette... I wanted them to do it together. They clearly wanted to work with each other.
- Sam Mendes Quote

Now I'm back home, living in London, running my theater. I just want to enjoy all that.
- Sam Mendes Quote

One of the reasons I loved working with Tom is people feel they know who he is... I think working with an actor who the audience already has a relationship with actually helps you in a film like this.
- Sam Mendes Quote

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 Quote

The movies that influenced me were movies that told their stories through pictures more than words.
- Sam Mendes Quote

The perceived wisdom is that people do not go in large numbers to black-and-white movies anymore - which is a great shame, but I'd love to make a black-and-white movie one day.
- Sam Mendes Quote

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 Quote

This is the first time in 10 years I don't know what I'm doing next, and I'm rather enjoying it. Soon I'll be climbing the walls no doubt, but right now, it's not clear, I'm just enjoying the freedom.
- Sam Mendes Quote

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

You freeze with the number of opportunities given to you and just decide to do nothing at all.
- Sam Mendes Quote

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 Quote

You think about taking audiences on a journey.
- Sam Mendes Quote

You're in the lap of the gods. If people go, they go, and if they don't.
- Sam Mendes Quote

You've got to believe as a filmmaker that if a movie's good enough, it's going to survive; and if it's not, well, it won't.
- Sam Mendes Quote