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Summary: How to Direct Actors
Review: "A good read for novice directors, especially those who do not have much experience working with film actors. It not only gives you methods for directing actors on the set, but also solid advice on casting and rehearsing." -- RMS
Rating: 
Summary: A Directors AND Actors MUST!
Review: 'Directing Actors', is absolutely fantastic. I tell every Actor I know to "Read it! Devour it!" I've read (it feels like) everything out there - & so much of what's out there makes me feel like they really don't get it or know what the heck they're talking about - but they're supposed to be an expert?! I know the Actors I'm watching and admire can't be doing this (...stuff). Too technical, too manipulative, too analytical, too cerebral - NOT PLAYABLE - & if it is - the Actor is anything but real & truthful.This book more than any other book or person out there gave me permission to trust my gut, be simple, be real, be truthful to the 'real' moment in front of you, as opposed to some imagined or contrived one... God what a beautiful world it'd be if the directors I audition & work with would "Get it"! (...) I refer back to this book often when I need to revalidate myself & my approach after a few of those auditions were the gatekeepers start getting me to doubt & question myself... (What do they know? I've always maintained that if one could control and summon up their emotions at will, we'd have no need for all the therapy & medications out there. But, we're human beings and we don't work that way. We 'feel' and are 'moved' unimpeded, freely and innately when we are truly involved with things outside of ourselves and not aware of ourselves (self-conscious). And to do that one can not be following a mental game plan in their head of what to 'pretend' to feel at this, that, or some other moment in a scene... That's called pretending NOT "Living Truthfully" in an imagined blah, blah, blah...) The bottom-line: This is a must read for Directors AND Actors who want a better appreciation of what the DeNiros, Pacinos, Walkens, Streeps, Langes, Brandos, and the like are more likely doing when they're Acting rather than what the academicians would have us believe... Read or listen to these actors in interviews discussing their approach and more often than not they'll sound like they're paraphrasing much in this book.
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Summary: Very useful heuristics for motivating performers
Review: A lot of this book is about motivating actors to perform and respond to director requests. I found the book useful but a bit too academic in places. My own approach, as a director of amateur ators, has always been to get an understandign of the limits of the emotional expressivity of each actor and work back from there into the charaacter. I was glad to learn that the book approves of this tye of method. Overall, it is a useful book, but there is a mechanical component to its instructional model which may jar with the European outlook. It is a personal opinion of course.
Rating:
Summary: Very useful heuristics for motivating performers
Review: A lot of this book is about motivating actors to perform and respond to director requests. I found the book useful but a bit too academic in places. My own approach, as a director of amateur ators, has always been to get an understandign of the limits of the emotional expressivity of each actor and work back from there into the charaacter. I was glad to learn that the book approves of this tye of method. Overall, it is a useful book, but there is a mechanical component to its instructional model which may jar with the European outlook. It is a personal opinion of course.
Rating:
Summary: Director Beware
Review: A practical, technique oriented introduction to directing actors. It's really from an actor's perspective, and has a very condescending attitude toward directors. But this is useful. The anecdotes are really enjoyable. Not a substitute for acting and directing experience, just one set of possible tools to try to put into practice. Harold Clurman's "On Directing" is of the same aesthetic perspective, but at the same time broader and more succinct, and more sympathetic to directors.
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Summary: Full of insight
Review: A thoroughly well-written book from a knowledgeable author. I bought this book upon recommendation from a friend before starting my own short film project. I know that simply because of this book, the performances will be a lot better than they would've been otherwise.
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Summary: An actors best resource
Review: All I can say is "Look no further!" Before you think about reading another book, make sure you pick up Directing Actors. I've read it about five times, and keep finding of useful information. Whether you're an actor, director, or simply interested in the craft, make sure you pick up this book. It'll be the best money you'll spend this year...I promise!
Rating:
Summary: An actors best resource
Review: All I can say is "Look no further!" Before you think about reading another book, make sure you pick up Directing Actors. I've read it about five times, and keep finding of useful information. Whether you're an actor, director, or simply interested in the craft, make sure you pick up this book. It'll be the best money you'll spend this year...I promise!
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Summary: Visions of Life
Review: Although I had studied acting in school and done my share of roles, how I got to "that place" was only a mystery to me. I didn't know how to do it consistently, or how to give it to someone else. Then I started reading Directing Actors, in anticipation of my first workshop with Judith Weston, and I was overcome with feelings of exhilaration as well as trepidation. (Could I really do these exercises and get a performance?) At the same time, I was amazed that someone was able to finally transcend that touchy-feely Milky Way into a Galaxy where there was order and form and process. A real handbook for unchartered territory! Someone finally had the vision to explain acting as a reflection of real life. To get more to the point, the techniques in Directing Actors work; they are learnable, understandable, and very practical. And most importantly, repeatable. Having participated in two of Judith's workshops, I can say that the woman behind the text is the real thing. Judith's research is the result of years of navigating through the stars, and the stardust. You will be amazed at how the exercises work, and you will learn to look at acting in a new light. No more mystery where it shouldn't be. You have read other books that speak of intangible things, or theory, or "magic". This book is different. It is a textbook, the one and only book you should own if you want to act, direct, or even write, in my opinion. Why? Because Judith gets molecular with the process of making a performance real. When you look up into the sky you see scores of stars. But there are a thousand times more you cannot see. Judith gives light to those black holes - so that you will always have a bearing on where you are going in any acting or directing situation. You will have tools to keep an actor in the moment. Buy this book. It will answer most of the questions you have ever had about the craft. You will be asked to do a lot of work in this book - and the result will be a set of skills that you will own - inside. Skills you will be able to use. And that will give you confidence, purpose, and the end to the dreaded "freeze". Never again will you be without ideas or options. Judith, I hope you read this. You and your book are amazing. Thank you. I know now that I could absolutely, positively direct a feature length film. And I did not know that before I was enlightened with your training. Your book was the first step. I have used the techniques in Directing Actors, and have also found my own center and my own variation on the methods - because I have received an education, not just a book. Buy this book today, and get the secret map through the nebula of this thing we call a performance. Five stars indeed!
Rating:
Summary: Mind opening
Review: Any aspiring director is intrigued with how to make actors understand what you want. Well, according to J. Weston, you don't want to make them understand what you want! You want them to do it without them knowing what result to give, because that's where it all start to look fake. You may find her approach quite hard to manage, but you don't become a good director in a thunderstrike. Above all, either you agree with Weston or not (you always give and take a few things), this book is a huge mind opener, very useful concerning how to understand the actors working techniques, very useful to find out how to obtain the best results, and quite invaluable concerning the sense of gambling any good director need to possess in order to create (along with actors) a memorable performance. In the top 5 books any aspiring director (even writer and perhaps Tech staff who know nothing about a director's job) should read, like a required obligation in order to take a good two step foward.
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