Sam Esmail Quotes

Sam Esmail

Profession : Director

Birth : September 17, 1977

I used to want to be a critic. I think it's an awesome job. You get to watch all this stuff and then write about it and analyze it and give insight into it. That's an amazing job. I was terrible at it, though.

Sam Esmail

There are some critics that will just write provocative stuff to get attention, but I would say most of the time that's not the case.

Sam Esmail

This is the great thing about TV is that when you discover certain strengths in an actor, you can then begin to exploit them in really fun ways.

Sam Esmail

Before we started shooting 'Homecoming,' we were in the writer's room for 'Mr. Robot.' I was also editing Season 3 of 'Mr. Robot' while I was prepping for the 'Homecoming' shoot. So yeah, it's a lot of hats.

Sam Esmail

When I first created the world of 'Mr. Robot,' I thought it would be a niche television series with a small, cult following.

Sam Esmail

I don't mind Twitter. I think it's a lot of nonsense, but at least, to me, Twitter is just more of a public forum to have conversation.

Sam Esmail

When you don't have a main character that's flawed, I don't know how you relate to that person.

Sam Esmail

Aren't all people flawed?

Sam Esmail

I could watch 'There Will Be Blood' all day long, and Daniel Plainview is a terrible person - but he's still compelling to watch. That's what makes me want to engage and see what happens next.

Sam Esmail

I never try and tune anything out. I think that's a mistake. You want to bring all the honest stuff that's going on inside you into your work. Otherwise, you're keeping a lot of authenticity out.

Sam Esmail

I'm not a huge fan of very plotty shows. I'm much more of a fan of character-driven stories.

Sam Esmail

Any time I approach a scene, it's not just what's on the page - it's how the camera's going to show or not show what's on the page. It's which character are we going to align with and what music is going to be playing.

Sam Esmail

I've always been fascinated by this idea of who we are versus who we want to be.

Sam Esmail

Looking back at 'Taxi Driver' or, really, any of the Martin Scorsese films, he really filmed New York City in a way that I saw New York City.

Sam Esmail

'Taxi Driver' is one of those films that is groundbreaking in how much you're inside this character's head. It uses voice-over in a revolutionary way where the audience is invited as a co-conspirator to the whole story line.

Sam Esmail

'Pi' was one of my favorite films growing up because I thought it employed paranoia and voice-over, and also because it used this unreliable narrator in a very fascinating way.

Sam Esmail

I think technology gives the illusion that you are connecting with people, social media particularly.

Sam Esmail

If your loved ones are far away, and they're uploading pictures, you feel like that's enough: these loose strands through email, through social media, are going to supply this connection you have with that person. And I think that's keeping us isolated and lonely in a way that's very dangerous because we're unaware of it.

Sam Esmail

I've lived a very isolated life.

Sam Esmail

I have tremendous social anxiety.

Sam Esmail