I acted for so many years and sat on a million sets and worked with a million different directors so that is to me some of the best training you can get. – Grant Heslov
When you look at a film like ‘The Ides of March’ or ‘Good Night, and Good Luck’ even, those are really contained pictures. – Grant Heslov
There are times when you work with directors on set, and things are a bit rudderless, and those can be good directors. – Grant Heslov
Actors know how to talk to other actors in a way that sometimes other directors just don’t. – Grant Heslov
A film like ‘Good Night And Good Luck,’ you make that for $7 million because you know it’s a black-and-white film, and it’s not an easy sell. If you make it for $7 million, then everybody can have a chance to make a little bit of money, and you get to make the film you want to make. – Grant Heslov
Look, a lot of directors were actors, even if they were unsuccessful actors which I think is helpful. I think it’s a really helpful thing for a director to have experienced that. It helps you know how to talk to actors and how to get what you need from them. – Grant Heslov
When I write, I make decent money doing it, but I don’t wake up dreaming about writing. – Grant Heslov
What you learn when you direct a film, even more so than as a producer, it’s a marriage. It’s like a relationship with that film so you’ve got to make sure that it’s really something that you want to live with for three years or however long it is. So I haven’t found the right thing to marry yet. – Grant Heslov
I find writing really difficult – definitely the most difficult of all the things I do. – Grant Heslov
I think it’s more interesting to throw people into a story and let them catch up instead of explaining and feeling like you have to slow down for them. I think audiences, for the most part, they don’t want to be ahead of you. – Grant Heslov
Creatively, it’s great, because when you write your own movies, you get to create whatever you want. – Grant Heslov
Writing a screenplay is like writing a big puzzle, and so the hardest part, I think, is getting the story. – Grant Heslov
‘Monuments Men’ is a movie… I don’t want to say for grown-ups, because some young folks could appreciate it, too. But if you’re expecting ‘Transformers,’ you’re going to be disappointed. – Grant Heslov
You have to make films you feel strongly about. And then hope you can find the audience. – Grant Heslov
You work with great directors and terrible directors, and so you learn; you take what you think will work for you. – Grant Heslov
There are films that cost a lot of money that might be decent films. But if they don’t perform in that first weekend or two, they’re gone. – Grant Heslov
