Generally speaking, directors have strong personalities and don’t let the actors step on their toes.
It’s so hard to make a film, and you have to manage such a large team, and make dozens of decisions every day. If you are not able to impose your will, it is better to change careers.
That being said, there are different ways of imposing what we want. Among the cashiest directors, we can cite Tarantino, who is known for not taking any pinches and being uncompromising.
In an interview with Howard Stern, actor Jamie Foxx talked about his first day on Django Unchained :
“Quentin was a real tyrant. But that suited me, I like that in a director. Someone who knows what he wants.
The first day of rehearsals, I start playing my lines with the tone, I play it cool, with swag, I act the guy at ease, confident. Django is in the place, you see…
There, Quentin stops me and says: “Can I talk to you face to face for a second?”
We go to a separate room and he says to me: “What is this shit you’re doing to me?”
I didn’t understand, I asked him what he was talking about.
He doesn’t even look at me, he rolls his eyes and says, “I knew this was going to happen, I knew he would do this to me…”
And then he looks me in the eyes and says:
“Look, you’re doing shit to me! You’re a fucking slave. You have to act like a slave, not like a rap star. He’s not a cool guy, he’s a slave! He doesn’t know read! And you, you show up with your Vuitton bag, your fucking Range Rover, and you do shit to me! He’s a slave at first. And then, long after, he becomes a hero. So you m ‘Stop this bullshit right now!’
And then he leaves the room, slamming the door.
Howard Stern: Would you work with him again despite this?
-You’re kidding ? A thousand times yes!