"Directing is a tremendous art"
About this Quote
“Directing is a tremendous art” lands like a small act of humility from an actor best known for big, crowd-pleasing ’80s comedies. Coming from Steve Guttenberg, it reads less like a thesis statement and more like an appreciative nod from inside the machine: the guy in front of the camera acknowledging the invisible architecture that makes his job possible.
The intent feels pragmatic. Guttenberg isn’t trying to mystify directing with lofty theory; he’s validating it as craft with stakes. “Tremendous” is doing a lot of work here. It’s not “important” or “hard” or “technical.” It’s scale, pressure, and range packed into one accessible adjective, the kind a working actor might reach for when he’s watched a director juggle performance, pacing, crew psychology, weather, money, ego, and time - all while making it look like mere “vision.”
The subtext is a quiet correction to a celebrity culture that tends to crown actors as auteurs of their own charisma. In the star-driven era Guttenberg came up in, directors were increasingly brand names too, but audiences still talked about movies as vehicles. His line pushes back: the “vehicle” has an engineer, and the engineer is making art under industrial constraints.
Context matters: an actor’s reverence for directing often comes from seeing how a good director protects performances - shaping tone without flattening spontaneity. Guttenberg’s compliment is also self-protective in the best way: if directing is art, then acting isn’t just showing up; it’s collaboration with someone composing the whole.
The intent feels pragmatic. Guttenberg isn’t trying to mystify directing with lofty theory; he’s validating it as craft with stakes. “Tremendous” is doing a lot of work here. It’s not “important” or “hard” or “technical.” It’s scale, pressure, and range packed into one accessible adjective, the kind a working actor might reach for when he’s watched a director juggle performance, pacing, crew psychology, weather, money, ego, and time - all while making it look like mere “vision.”
The subtext is a quiet correction to a celebrity culture that tends to crown actors as auteurs of their own charisma. In the star-driven era Guttenberg came up in, directors were increasingly brand names too, but audiences still talked about movies as vehicles. His line pushes back: the “vehicle” has an engineer, and the engineer is making art under industrial constraints.
Context matters: an actor’s reverence for directing often comes from seeing how a good director protects performances - shaping tone without flattening spontaneity. Guttenberg’s compliment is also self-protective in the best way: if directing is art, then acting isn’t just showing up; it’s collaboration with someone composing the whole.
Quote Details
| Topic | Movie |
|---|
More Quotes by Steve
Add to List
