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Daily Inspiration Quote by Thomas Kretschmann

"I've worked with many directors, good ones and bad ones. So if I have a chance to work the good ones, I better put myself in their hands, and trust them, because that's my big opportunity to be different, and to be better than usual"

About this Quote

Kretschmann frames acting less as self-expression than as a strategic surrender. The line carries the hard-earned pragmatism of someone who’s seen sets run by visionaries and by bullies, by the prepared and by the improvising-on-the-fly. Calling good directors a “big opportunity” isn’t flattery; it’s an admission about how fragile great work can be in a medium where authorship is diffuse. Film and TV love the myth of the actor as lone artisan, but Kretschmann is pointing to the quieter truth: your range often depends on the intelligence of the container you’re put in.

The subtext is almost managerial: treat top collaborators like rare resources, and don’t waste the moment by insisting on control. “Put myself in their hands” suggests vulnerability, but also efficiency. When you trust a director, you stop playing defense. You can make bolder choices because someone else is holding the map, watching continuity, calibrating tone, protecting you from the many ways a performance can look “right” and still be wrong for the film.

There’s also a modest sting in “better than usual.” It’s not self-deprecation so much as a refusal of the celebrity narrative that talent is a permanent state. Kretschmann implies that excellence is situational: the right director can interrupt your habits, pull you out of your default settings, and make “different” feel less like reinvention and more like precision.

Quote Details

TopicCareer
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Kretschmann, Thomas. (2026, January 16). I've worked with many directors, good ones and bad ones. So if I have a chance to work the good ones, I better put myself in their hands, and trust them, because that's my big opportunity to be different, and to be better than usual. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/ive-worked-with-many-directors-good-ones-and-bad-130479/

Chicago Style
Kretschmann, Thomas. "I've worked with many directors, good ones and bad ones. So if I have a chance to work the good ones, I better put myself in their hands, and trust them, because that's my big opportunity to be different, and to be better than usual." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/ive-worked-with-many-directors-good-ones-and-bad-130479/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I've worked with many directors, good ones and bad ones. So if I have a chance to work the good ones, I better put myself in their hands, and trust them, because that's my big opportunity to be different, and to be better than usual." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/ive-worked-with-many-directors-good-ones-and-bad-130479/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.

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Thomas Kretschmann on Trusting the Director
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About the Author

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Thomas Kretschmann (born September 8, 1962) is a Actor from Germany.

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