Parenting & Family Quote by Tom Berenger

Berenger’s jab lands because it’s both wildly overgeneral and instantly recognizable: the director as a permanently depleted species, living on set coffee and adrenaline, aging in dog years. Coming from an actor, it also carries a little backstage power-play. Actors can complain about brutal call times, but the director is the job that never clocks out. By saying directors “shouldn’t have any kids,” he’s not offering family-planning advice so much as drawing a hard boundary around what the culture of directing demands: total ownership, total availability, total sacrifice.

The line about physical health sharpens the critique. Hollywood loves to romanticize “the grind” as proof of seriousness; Berenger flips it into a medical warning. “Even guys in their 30s look exhausted” isn’t just an observation, it’s a condemnation of a system that treats sleep like a negotiable luxury and burnout like a badge. He makes it visceral and a little cruel, because exhaustion shows on your face.

There’s also a telling subtext of self-protection: “What I do is stressful enough.” The actor acknowledges his own pressure while insisting the director’s burden is in another league. It reads like solidarity and distancing at once: respect for the director’s impossible workload, paired with a clear message that he wants no part of that lifestyle. In an industry that sells glamour, Berenger is pointing to the unphotogenic truth: the top job can be the loneliest, most bodily punishing one on set.