Academy Award-nominated actor Stanley Tucci is best known for his on-screen performances, but he has worked as a director behind the camera as well, including the films Big Night (1996), Joe Gould’s Secret (2000), and Final Portrait (2017). While speaking with Vanity Fair, Tucci spoke about how he handled directing and why he feels directors using plain, simple direction is more effective for creating strong performances.
When he’s directing, Tucci prefers the, well, direct approach. He explains, “As a director, I love working with actors, but I’m very direct. I don’t pussy foot around. And I’ll say, ‘Do it again, but be funnier.’ I’ll say all that direction that people think is terrible direction. [It] actually isn’t. ‘Do it again, but be sadder.'”
Of course, Tucci confesses that he initially didn’t like receiving such direct instructions from his directors. However, he has come around to that approach, saying:
“I didn’t. Now I love it. Don’t stop the camera. I don’t need to talk a lot. Just go ‘Look to your right, look to your left. Be sad. Now be happy. Now walk out of frame. Now walk back into frame. Count to three and drop your head. Walk away.’ When you’re talking to an actor who’s an experienced actor, they know exactly what that is supposed to be and where it will be placed within the structure of the film. Sometimes that’s really important. There’s this incredible documentary called Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie. It’s just him directing actors in the movie Winter Light, which is a really beautiful film. He has an actor up on a windowsill and he’s saying, ‘Okay, put your hand here. Turn your head a little like that. Do that.’ He’s doing exactly what I just explained, and it’s fantastic because everything we need to get from that actor emotionally, we’re getting. I don’t need the actor to spend hours doing the blah, blah, blah. The image is telling me everything. That’s what you learn as you get older. You don’t need the amount of energy, the amount of talk, the amount of whatever. You have access to so much because of your experience, not just in the world of acting, but in life—everything is there for you.”
Curious about how actors direct themselves? Read our stories on Jason Bateman‘s process and George Clooney‘s approach to directing.
