from "A Director's Notebook"

“Rather than tell the actor what the scene is about and who they are and why it is happening -these are journalistic questions -I have the actor perform the scene and then later explain it to them. This way actions come first, explanations later and the film impacts them inside of them. I call this method the Retropropedeutic Method”
“Did you make that up, just now?”
“I thought about it a little while you were eating your sandwich. And that is how dramatic action should be introduced: don’t think about this now, think about it later when you are smelling a dog or making love.”

“Why are we shooting in order?”
“Because you really die at the end.”
“No, really.”
“But first you really fall in love. With me.”
“No, really.”
“I also die. Take my death as as much introduction to that scene as possible. I cannot think of any other way of showing you. But first, you really really become a heart surgeon.”
“That’s not in the script.”
“It’s in the backstory. Here it is.”
“Why did my character sleep with all these people?”
“Because they were lonely. You’re a friend of the lonely. That’s why you like coming to this old leathery restaurant, it’s like visiting grandparents.”
“You’re drunk”
“Why would you say that?”
“Because you are talking to me from beneath the table. Fortunately, I don’t mind because you are paying and it is actually somewhat less embarrassing.”
“Are you looking at yourself in the mirror?”
“No, I’m not. You’re steak’s here. Don’t get up. I’ll have them send it down.”
“Have them do something about all the bottles down here, too. It’s like a recycling bin. Ow!”
“Look what you’ve done, you’ve moved the garlic bread”
“I was trying to pleasure you”
“The garlic bread is not that good.”

And how this cunning picture holds her still
/At just that smiling instant when her soul,
/Grown sweetly faint, and swept beyond control,
/Consents to his inexorable will

“Does this poem mean you’ve been masturbating to my picture?”
“And so what have we learned about directing?”
“That directors are horrible, untrustworthy people.”
“You misunderstand. I give you MY trust. This is the whole point, you haven’t been violated. Your image is not you. Viewers create phantasies based on what they see, but their phanstasies aren’t you and take place out of time, in the imagination. If you understand this, you will be able to act in a motion picture and survive. If you cannot, you will perish in the idolatry of your own image.”
“Will you make love to me?”
“Eventually.”