At that time, there were very few books of any kind on film directing. Conventional wisdom held that directing actors was a mysterious art that could not be taught, a matter of intuitive talent you either have it or you don’t. I never expected Directing Actors, published twenty-five years ago, to become as successful as it has. I feared the concepts might seem extreme, even absurd, to veteran film professionals, at least the ones who thought they already knew everything.