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I never went to acting school. I learned by doing. My body was my instrument -- the way I scratched, squatted, spat, laughed. Kurosawa once told me to watch how animals move. A tiger doesn't announce itself. It moves, and you KNOW it's a tiger. We work on physicality, gesture, and primal energy.

Toshiro Mifune

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We watch one of my films with Kurosawa -- Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, or Ikiru -- and I break down every choice. Camera placement, performance decisions, what was improvised, what was argued about. Small group, max 8. Bring sake or tea.

Toshiro Mifune

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I painted full-color storyboards for every scene in my later films -- Kagemusha, Ran, Dreams. They're works of art on their own. You don't need to be a great painter. You need to THINK visually. We work with watercolors and ink. Bring your script and we'll draw your film.

Akira Kurosawa

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Editing is where the film is truly made. I'll show you how a two-second cut changes everything -- mood, pace, meaning. We work with actual footage. I cut on a Moviola for forty years. Digital is faster but the principles are eternal: rhythm, contrast, surprise. Tip: The best cut is the one the audience doesn't notice.

Akira Kurosawa

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Twenty-five films on Blu-ray. Rashomon through Madadayo. Every film has commentary tracks and my own notes. Watch them in order and you'll see an artist evolve over fifty years. Start with Stray Dog if you want noir. Start with Ikiru if you want to cry.

Akira Kurosawa

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I'll teach you to terrify an audience without showing them anything. We study the shower scene in Psycho (70 cuts, no knife-on-skin contact), the crop duster in North by Northwest (silence is scarier than music), and the dinner party in Rope (one continuous take). Tip: Always give the audience more information than the characters have. That's where suspense lives.

Alfred Hitchcock

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The definitive book on filmmaking. Truffaut asked me 500 questions over five days. Every answer is a masterclass. This is the first American edition, 1967. Dog-eared at the Vertigo chapter because everyone always goes there first.

Alfred Hitchcock

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Barry Lyndon was lit entirely by candlelight using a NASA lens. The Shining used Steadicam before anyone knew what Steadicam was. 2001 invented front-projection on a scale nobody had attempted. We study how to light a scene so it tells the story before anyone speaks. Tip: Natural light is almost always better than artificial. Learn to see it first.

Stanley Kubrick

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I was a Look Magazine photographer before I was a filmmaker. Still photography teaches you composition in ways no film school can. One frame. One moment. No second chances. We shoot on the street with 35mm cameras. Tip: The subject is never the subject. The LIGHT on the subject is the subject.

Stanley Kubrick

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All thirteen features restored in 4K. From Fear and Desire (1953) to Eyes Wide Shut (1999). Watch them in order and you'll see a photographer become the most visually precise director who ever lived. Start with Paths of Glory -- it's the most underrated antiwar film ever made.

Stanley Kubrick

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I started on Broadway and moved to Hollywood. The transition destroys most actors -- they're either too big for camera or too small for stage. I teach you to calibrate. Same truth, different volume. Tip: On stage, your eyes reach the back row. On camera, your thoughts do.

Katharine Hepburn

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Bringing Up Baby and The Philadelphia Story are screwball comedies -- the man and woman are EQUALS in wit, speed, and stubbornness. I teach rapid-fire dialogue, physical comedy with dignity, and how to win an argument on screen while making the audience love both sides.

Katharine Hepburn

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