Phyllida Lloyd Quotes

I have been very lucky, and I think it all goes back to state subsidy for the arts. I gained my training and confidence and credentials in the not-for-profit world, and in England, that does not mean on the fringe of things. It means right at the centre.

- Phyllida Lloyd

Movie-making is an extreme sport on many levels. It requires stamina such as I had never imagined.

- Phyllida Lloyd

I was hellbent on going to drama school, but my mother, rightly, panicked and persuaded me to go to university on the grounds that a degree would be 'something to fall back on.' Whilst at college, I realised I wasn't good enough or robust enough to be an actress.

- Phyllida Lloyd

In management terms, directing opera certainly prepares you for a film set: the magnitude of it, the experts in other fields that you have to call on. Both are massive ensemble jobs in which there's incredible pressure to get things done on time and on budget - so much so that making the wrong decision may be better than making no decision at all.

- Phyllida Lloyd

I was given a mask of myself by Frances Barber when we opened 'Julius Caesar.' I looked much younger and prettier. Wearing it was certainly cheaper than Botox.

- Phyllida Lloyd

To have Hollywood tell me or other women like me that we're not a market that interests them is silly. Good stories work.

- Phyllida Lloyd

If you have bad hair and you bite your nails, nobody expects that you can't direct plays.

- Phyllida Lloyd

Margaret Thatcher was pro-choice. She voted to decriminalize homosexuality. Was not profoundly religious. She was very liberal on social issues.

- Phyllida Lloyd

In the theatre in the U.K., women are at the very top of the tree as freelance directors.

- Phyllida Lloyd

There's something about doing Shakespeare with a single gender, whether it is all-male or all-female, that opens up certain possibilities. You are able to throw the behavior of the men into a particular relief and be playful within a slightly larger-than-life way with it.

- Phyllida Lloyd

I worked on live studio drama, which was one weird aberration in the 1980s. I worked on the 'Battle of Waterloo,' and my job was to reload the Brown Bess muskets - the only time the audience realised it was live was when somebody leant on a button and plunged the whole studio into blackout.

- Phyllida Lloyd

I think I wanted to do something that retained the improvised chaos of 'Mamma Mia' the theatre show which set it apart from all the slick packaged productions.

- Phyllida Lloyd

In a way, the debate about Margaret Thatcher in Britain has just gotten fossilized in this notion that she is either this she-devil who wrecked the industrial base of the country and ruined the lives of millions, or she is the blessed Margaret who saved the nation and rescued us from our post-war decline.

- Phyllida Lloyd

In Europe, it is not so unusual for directors to move between opera, theatre, and film, and I have at least three girlfriends I can think of who have directed in all three genres.

- Phyllida Lloyd

You can't wait for someone to discover you; you have to just get on and do it. Have confidence that directing is a very suitable job for a woman - with our gift for collaboration, listening, and reading the nuance of things.

- Phyllida Lloyd

I realised you could become fat and bald as a director and still remain employable.

- Phyllida Lloyd

When I was asked to read a screenplay about Margaret Thatcher, I think I felt immediate apprehension.

- Phyllida Lloyd

As a woman, I think Margaret Thatcher felt she had to be ten times more prepared than the men.

- Phyllida Lloyd

Margaret Thatcher always felt like an outsider in her party.

- Phyllida Lloyd

I think Margaret Thatcher was a superstar in this country, and I think we all felt we needed a superstar to play her, somebody of huge intelligence, passion, and power and warmth.

- Phyllida Lloyd

In London, it's quite a rarefied activity to be on an analyst's couch.

- Phyllida Lloyd

Art is all about giving yourself these terrifying challenges, these peaks to climb. You're at the bottom of the mountain at the start of every new project thinking, 'Am I going to make it?'

- Phyllida Lloyd

Frankly, I find it very odd that, in a population that's more than 50 per cent of women, that Hollywood isn't producing more movies to cater to that audience. The demographic is being grossly underserved, in my opinion.

- Phyllida Lloyd

Directing is quite a nuts-and-bolts thing. It's a mixture of creating an atmosphere in which actors can feel safe enough to be dangerous.

- Phyllida Lloyd

I didn't really realize I was a woman director until I walked onto the set at Pinewood Studios when I did 'Mamma Mia!' and everybody was calling each other 'Governor' and 'Sir'... and then, looking at me, 'Well... good morning!'

- Phyllida Lloyd

'The Handmaid's Tale' is a horrifying and horrifyingly possible vision of the future.

- Phyllida Lloyd

Shakespeare was writing about his time, and it was a time when women were beginning to demand a voice, demand a say in their lives for one reason or another, mainly to do with the economics of the time.

- Phyllida Lloyd

To be invited to the Park - the greatest free Shakespeare festival in the world - is a great honor, and I don't take it lightly.

- Phyllida Lloyd

In the not-for-profit world, I never felt that being female was an impediment. I was, however, given my break into commercial theatre by a female producer, Judy Craymer, and women - in particular, Donna Langley, president of production at Universal - were crucial in giving 'Mamma Mia' a home in Hollywood.

- Phyllida Lloyd

If you believe that how you do your work is as influential as the work you do, then a theatre rehearsal, which is a microcosm of the world, is the perfect place to model social change because if it doesn't work this time, you can try again on the next production.

- Phyllida Lloyd

Onstage, there's a separation between character and audience; onscreen, you can go to a deeper place.

- Phyllida Lloyd

The power of a close-up can be extraordinary, but you have to have actors who are able to reveal themselves.

- Phyllida Lloyd

It's the job of the artist to take something that everybody thinks they know about, they've made a decision about, they will be immovable on, and to shine a light on it.

- Phyllida Lloyd

One is always attracted to pieces of theatre with great roles for women.

- Phyllida Lloyd

If you're an actor, you have to look spiffing. But as the director, you don't need to look so glamorous.

- Phyllida Lloyd

I realized that I didn't think I could stand the psychological battering that actors have to withstand. I just felt I wasn't cut out for that kind of self-promotion.

- Phyllida Lloyd

Do as much theatre as you can while you're at school.

- Phyllida Lloyd

I think courage is commensurate with your fear - if you lack imagination and you're fearless, that's not courage to me.

- Phyllida Lloyd

Opera is too obsessed with buildings.

- Phyllida Lloyd

When I began to direct, I discovered that I was much more comfortable than I was acting.

- Phyllida Lloyd

It was extraordinary to experience 'Mamma Mia!' What an injection of good spirit and heart it was.

- Phyllida Lloyd