How To Direct The Best Acting Performance - Dan Attias

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Dan Attias has worked as a director in the film and television industry for 37 years. As a director of series television he has received the Directors Guild of America award for outstanding direction of dramatic television and has been nominated for multiple Emmy awards for his comedy directing.
He continues to work on some of the most celebrated and critically acclaimed American television shows, including Homeland, The Americans, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Billions, and The Boys.
Previously he has directed The Sopranos, The Wire, Six Feet Under, True Blood, Entourage, The Killing, The Walking Dead, True Detective, Ray Donovan, Bloodline, Friday Night Lights, Northern Exposure, House, Lost, Alias, among many others.
His first professional directing assignment was the feature film, Stephen King’s Silver Bullet, produced by Dino DeLaurentiis. Dan started his career studying acting, then worked as an assistant director on E.T. The Extraterrestrial, Airplane!, One From the Heart and several other feature films.
He has taught acting and directing workshops in the United States, and has appeared as a guest speaker at festivals in Italy, Brazil, Greece, Mexico and Canada. Before working in the film and television industry, Dan was enrolled in a Ph.D. program in English literature at U.C.L.A., then transferred to the Theater Arts Department where he earned an M.F.A. in film production.
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#Movies #Writing #Creator

[@dominiquetolley8246]

I literally watch Film Courage everyday. As I’m writing my first feature, I learn so much from this channel. Thank you. The people love you lol

[@zubairnazir7981]

Same here writing my first feature. Good luck to you.

[@filmcourage]

Keep at it Dominique!

[@filmcourage]

Our best to you Zubair!

[@GlennRRB]

The way Dan tell his experiences are mesmerizing. Every time he is sharing something I feel hypnotized, like, i just cant stop watching until the end. He is accomplished, but humble, and dont think twice before crediting other ppl that worked with him. Thank you so much Film Courage for bringing great content for free to all of us! I cant tell how all the things i learned here already helped me in my work. Thank you!

[@filmcourage]

Hard to receive a better comment than this. Thanks for posting Renan! Our best to you and your work.

[@eurovizusayay3591]

My first on camera directing job is tomorrow. Glad I watched this first. This video reaffirms many of the techniques I apply when directing actors- but it presents them in a manner that's so much clearer, concise, and helpful to me. What you convey in a sentence would take me a half hour to articulate. Thank you!!

[@filmcourage]

Best of luck!

[@BionicDance]

This one has plagued me a bit because I'm not sure how to ride the line between what I'm after and how much freedom to give my actors. I'm also an animator, and I can get a bit picky about certain pronunciations or which words need emphasis to convey the right meaning... it's tough to not just read the lines for people... But then you get those actors who just seem to _get it,_ where you hardly have to direct them at all. I've had that privilege a few times, working with someone like that, and it's great.

[@chesco.a4123]

Thank you guys for all the content you post. It has really helped me as a director and filmmaker to really craft my skills.

[@filmcourage]

Keep at it Chesco!

[@farkham4]

Directing a short film on May 1st! This helped a lot.

[@filmcourage]

Go get 'em!

[@seoulting28]

We'll never know for sure who Max is. My guess is John Malkovich from Crossbones.

[@mealtime5091]

Felt like my ambitious uncle telling me a story of the studio days. Really insightful, thanks Dan Attias.

[@MysterianFilmGroup]

Film at its core is trying something new.

[@filmcourage]

What's one thing you learned from this video?

[@jameskelly6039]

No matter the names in the room, everyone needs to share the vision and collaborate toward that vision or the story will fail.

[@imaginnova]

Actors aren't order-takers, but instruments of emotion. You can help bring the performance to life by giving them a seed of direction rather than a forest of feedback

[@eurovizusayay3591]

"..motivations according to 'the character's own level of awareness.'" Love this. So often actors think that if the director doesn't explicitly tell them how to 'do something,' it's their job to 'direct themselves' on how to do it. It's a big trap for an actor to fall into, as they're now functioning as an actor concerned with performance, effect and getting the scene right, rather than as a character deciding how to go after what they want.

[@outlawdawnllc]

Completely agree about directing actors being the most important skill. Too many projects out there with all the right equipment, all the right crew, fumble it at the end for reasons that cost nothing. GET ANOTHER TAKE!

[@cdgarcia]

Great interview! This story applies so nicely in every leadership situations so glad I listened all the way through

[@RichardWrightFirth]

Malkovich 💯

[@wellnowdave]

Amazing interview thank you, really useful to get a Director's perspective as an actor- he sounds great at helping an actor perform brilliantly

[@walterbinns6992]

Amazing and so inspiring. I am going to buy Dan's book asap. Thank you Film Courage!

[@sunlightpictures8367]

Great interview!

[@MrSerbianOrthodox]

That's some damn good advice!

[@witchcraft3743]

this is extremely comforting to know there are directors out there that are willing to really work with actors on delivering the best performance for projects. i'm aware that it's a director's job to interact and coach the actors on how a scene should be played out but it confirms that an entire production team works as one unit, not separate units.

[@BronnBlackwater]

Very cool even for casual viewers

[@magiafilms3795]

This is pure gold! Thanks!

[@filmcourage]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@magiafilms3795]

@@filmcourage just bough Dan’s book too, thanks for showing it!

[@bunuel38]

excellent video.

[@mako2king609]

After I finish my script, graduate college, etcetera. I still wonder who's gonna be the best players for my characters.

[@kuramobay2445]

Cast the right actor and since you share the same goal - a great performance - be humble enough to let the actor show you how you can help them.

[@eurovizusayay3591]

I agree, but not every director gets casting choice.

[@starbright6579]

I decided to be a producer and Screenwriter only, but when producing my first film or second film only I will be the director, then after that I'm going to hire a director because I'm not passionate about directing like producing and I also don't know how to be a good director to be honest I tried and I just don't have the gift to be a film director it's my weakness so I'll just hire one.

[@courtney4974]

🔥

[@carmenworthy9330]

👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

[@thallesvinicius2729]

04:59

[@gustavoramirez1774]

Who's Max? WHAT SHOW!!!???

[@AlexIsiv]

we'll never know

[@RawHeadRay]

Glancing the comments for the gossip, see if anyone knows who the boring actor was 🤐

[@brandoncarroll587]

Honest review: I'd like this channel if they actually stored good content and disposed of other stuff and didn't upload every single day.

[@zubairnazir7981]

Why don't you guys hire Pakistani actors for this specific episode ? We got many good actors as well.

[@FranticAnimations]

What?