Take it from a director: if you get an actor that Sandy Meisner has trained, you've been blessed. — Elia Kazan Copy Share Image
I was able to capture on film things the actors didn't even know they were doing. — Elia Kazan Copy Share Image
When you know what an actor has, you can reach in and arouse it. If you don't know what he has, you… — Elia Kazan Copy Share Image
The first thing you should do with an actor is not sign a contract with him. Take him to dinner. And take… — Elia Kazan Copy Share Image
With kids you can take a chance but casting a guy at 45 is different. You don't discover somebody that age. If… — Elia Kazan Copy Share Image
It's difficult, if not impossible, to get away with anything false before the camera. That instrument penetrates the husk of the actor;… — Elia Kazan Copy Share Image
There is only one thing I respect in so-called Broadway actors... and that is their competitive sense. — Elia Kazan Copy Share Image
The essence of the stage is concentration and penetration. Of the screen action, movement, sweep. — Elia Kazan Copy Share Image
I didn't have the problem of finding myself at 45 on the wrong course - I always wanted to be a film director. — Elia Kazan Copy Share Image
What's called a difficult decision is a difficult decision because either way you go there are penalties. — Elia Kazan Copy Share Image
You can't just sit there and do the lines. You have to do something revealing or unusual. — Elia Kazan Copy Share Image
If you're going to play a cowboy, show up with the horse at the audition — Elia Kazan Copy Share Image
I value peace, too, when it is not bought at the price of fundamental decencies. — Elia Kazan Copy Share Image
There was no doubt that there was a vast organization which was making fools of all the liberals in Hollywood and taking their money,… — Elia Kazan Copy Share Image
The makers of entertainment must try, in our field, to be honest and grown-up. — Elia Kazan Copy Share Image
I'm very pro-America, but I feel it necessary to keep in touch with Europe to maintain a perspective. — Elia Kazan Copy Share Image
