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" If you have bad hair and you bite your nails, nobody expects that you can't direct plays. "
Phyllida Lloyd
Your
Bad
Hair
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" 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
Stand
Out
Think
" 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
She
Nation
Debate
" 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
Confidence
Training
Think
" 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
Live
Weird
Time
" I started working in London, and I've been free-lance ever since. "
Phyllida Lloyd
Been
Working
Started
" 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
Pressure
Management
Decision
" 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
Mother
Me
Good
" Opera is too obsessed with buildings. "
Phyllida Lloyd
Obsessed
Opera
Buildings
" 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
Her
Intelligence
Power
" Margaret Thatcher always felt like an outsider in her party. "
Phyllida Lloyd
Always
Party
Outsider
" 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
Theatre
You
Change
" When I was asked to read a screenplay about Margaret Thatcher, I think I felt immediate apprehension. "
Phyllida Lloyd
Read
Think
Asked
" 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
Voice
Writing
Beginning
" In a way, 'Mamma Mia!' was such a left-field thing for me. "
Phyllida Lloyd
Me
Way
Thing
" 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
Theatre
Think
Chaos
" The power of a close-up can be extraordinary, but you have to have actors who are able to reveal themselves. "
Phyllida Lloyd
Power
Who
You
" 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
Job
Light
Shine
" Do as much theatre as you can while you're at school. "
Phyllida Lloyd
While
You
School
" If you're an actor, you have to look spiffing. But as the director, you don't need to look so glamorous. "
Phyllida Lloyd
You
Actor
Need
" As a woman, I think Margaret Thatcher felt she had to be ten times more prepared than the men. "
Phyllida Lloyd
Prepared
Men
More
" I realised you could become fat and bald as a director and still remain employable. "
Phyllida Lloyd
Director
Bald
Become
" 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
Giving
Home
Theatre
" 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
Looking
Good
Woman
" One is always attracted to pieces of theatre with great roles for women. "
Phyllida Lloyd
Pieces
Theatre
Great
" 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
Men
Behavior
Doing
" 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
Theatre
Move
Film
" 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
Me
Women
Silly
" In the theatre in the U.K., women are at the very top of the tree as freelance directors. "
Phyllida Lloyd
Theatre
Freelance
Women
" Movie-making is an extreme sport on many levels. It requires stamina such as I had never imagined. "
Phyllida Lloyd
Never
Many
Had
" Margaret Thatcher was pro-choice. She voted to decriminalize homosexuality. Was not profoundly religious. She was very liberal on social issues. "
Phyllida Lloyd
She
Social Issues
Pro-Choice