"Some directors hardly talk to the actors at all"
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A small complaint that lands like an accusation: “Some directors hardly talk to the actors at all” isn’t just about on-set etiquette, it’s about power and taste disguised as process. Coming from Todd Solondz, a writer-director whose films thrive on discomfort and precise tonal control, the line reads as a jab at a certain auteur posture - the myth that withholding creates purity, that silence is a mark of seriousness.
The intent feels double-edged. On one level, it’s practical: actors aren’t props, and performance doesn’t emerge from guesswork. On another, it’s moral: refusing to communicate is a way of dodging responsibility. If a performance fails, the director can chalk it up to the actor’s limitations rather than the director’s choices. Silence becomes plausible deniability.
The subtext also hints at a broader industry dynamic: directors who “hardly talk” often rely on hierarchy to do the talking for them - ADs relaying notes, producers smoothing edges, a whole bureaucracy insulating the person with the vision from the messy human labor of making it real. That distance can be mistaken for artistry. Solondz punctures that by framing it as absence, not mystique.
Context matters: his work depends on actors navigating tightropes of irony, vulnerability, and social cringe. Those aren’t vibes you “capture” by being aloof. You calibrate them. So the line becomes a quiet defense of collaboration, and a rebuke to the romantic idea that great directing is primarily about control rather than conversation.
The intent feels double-edged. On one level, it’s practical: actors aren’t props, and performance doesn’t emerge from guesswork. On another, it’s moral: refusing to communicate is a way of dodging responsibility. If a performance fails, the director can chalk it up to the actor’s limitations rather than the director’s choices. Silence becomes plausible deniability.
The subtext also hints at a broader industry dynamic: directors who “hardly talk” often rely on hierarchy to do the talking for them - ADs relaying notes, producers smoothing edges, a whole bureaucracy insulating the person with the vision from the messy human labor of making it real. That distance can be mistaken for artistry. Solondz punctures that by framing it as absence, not mystique.
Context matters: his work depends on actors navigating tightropes of irony, vulnerability, and social cringe. Those aren’t vibes you “capture” by being aloof. You calibrate them. So the line becomes a quiet defense of collaboration, and a rebuke to the romantic idea that great directing is primarily about control rather than conversation.
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