How did Kubrick see a directors role?
“I come up with the ideas. That is essentially the director’s job. There’s a misconception, I think, about what directing actors means: it generally goes along the lines of the director imposing his will over difficult actors, or teaching people who don’t know how to act. I try to hire the best actors in the world. The problem is one a conductor might face. There’s little joy in trying to get a magnificent performance from a student orchestra. It’s difficult enough to get one with all the subtleties and nuances you might want out of the greatest orchestra in the world. You want to have great virtuoso soloists, and so with actors. Then it’s not necessary to teach them how to act or to impose your will on them because usually there is no problem along those lines. An actor will almost always do what you want him to do if he is able to do it; and, therefore, since great actors are able to do almost anything, you find you have few problems. You can then concentrate on what you want them to
