On film sets, the camera is often described as being on one side of an imaginary line. There’s everything that exists behind the lens, which is decided by the director, and the world in front of the camera, which is brought to life by the actors. But increasingly, veteran performers are crossing that line, directing films that are finding success with audiences and critics alike. That includes buzzy 2021 awards contenders such as Rebecca Hall’s “Passing” and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Lost Daughter.”
In an era when performers at all stages of their careers are advised to make their own work, there’s much to be gleaned from these A-listers’ success stories. Fortunately, Backstage and others have peppered actor-directors such as Greta Gerwig (2017’s “Lady Bird”) and Viggo Mortensen (2020’s “Falling”) with questions about the lessons they’ve learned and the advice they have to share with those who want to follow in their footsteps.
“The best thing a director can do for an actor is create an atmosphere that’s relaxed and conducive to good work,” Mortensen told us. When he was filming his directorial debut, which charts the complicated relationship between a father and son, the Oscar nominee found that his experience as an actor gave him a valuable perspective and allowed him to develop a collaborative, inviting mood on set.
It’s the same instinct Halle Berry brought to her first directing outing, “Bruised,” which premiered on Netflix late last year and stars the Oscar winner as an aging MMA fighter. She emphasized that an entrepreneurial spirit is required to make the leap from actor to director. “You just have to decide to do it and then do it,” she told us. “That requires being focused, being tenacious, not taking no for an answer, and really having a desire to do something that you love.”
A deep appreciation of the medium goes a long way, as Paul Dano found when directing his 2018 debut, “Wildlife.” He recalled soaking up lessons from the likes of Paul Thomas Anderson and Ang Lee that prepared him to take the helm himself. Actors interested in filmmaking should follow Dano’s lead and embrace curiosity and enthusiasm. “There are times when, in a dorky way, I just get excited by working,” Dano told IndieWire. “I wasn’t necessarily studying to make a film of my own, but a love of the whole thing was a big factor in my choices.”
Gerwig had experience writing and producing before directing “Lady Bird.” She knew from her own acting work (in “Frances Ha,” “20th Century Women,” and other films) how hard the craft is. That shared knowledge made her feel connected to her film’s cast. “At the end of the day, I feel like you need to know what you’re asking of people,” Gerwig said. She prioritizes finding an emotional connection to the work.
Echoing Gerwig, Hall said that emotionally mining Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel, the source material for “Passing,” as if she were acting helped her ease into directing. In some ways, the approaches are one and the same. “The best bits that I love as an actor are the thinking and the kind of logical road-mapping of the emotions and what’s happening,” she told Variety. “You do all that as a writer, and then you do all that again as a director when you’re working out how to capture and film that…. The truth is, I think directing holds everything for me.”
Jonah Hill also felt that he was always meant to be a director; in an interview about his own debut, 2018’s “Mid90s,” he told NPR that his acting career was an “amazing derailment” on the way to filmmaking. But working as an actor with the likes of the Coen brothers and Martin Scorsese showed him what kind of director he wanted to be. He noted that Scorsese, whom he worked with on “The Wolf of Wall Street,” taught him that you shouldn’t judge your characters. “I like how unabashedly and unapologetically he shows human behavior, for better or worse,” Hill said, adding that it’s “something that really speaks to me in art in general, and something I’m going to strive to do if I’m lucky enough to get to make another film, and something that I tried to do in ‘Mid90s.’ ”
What leaves us rapt today is waiting to see what these actors and filmmakers will choose to do next.
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