“in order to get the characters right you have to deal with them and you really only get the characters once you make the scenes, because it’s the way they talk, it’s how you imagine they react in certain situations. That’s why even if we have, in the back of our mind, a notion of where the story’s going, which of course we need to have otherwise you can’t even write the first ten pages. ...  It’s still going to take us on a slightly different path because we actually deal with the scenes and because we actually deal in depth with the characters instead of just doing the outlines.”  Interview with Jack Giroux - Film School Rejects

“I think for me, casting is the key to making a good film. My main interest is on characters; from the beginning of working with the script I am totally engaged character development.  Therefore, for me casting is the most important part of my filmmaking and I spend quite a lot of time on casting my films.” Bijan Tehrani - Cinema Without Borders

Born in 1960 to Jewish parents in Copenhagen, Susanne Bier is married with two children, and thinks that living in Denmark where there is good child care has enabled her to pursue her film directing career without fear or favour.  She studied art and architecture at Jerusalem University before studying film in Denmark.  She began directing in 1991 and has been working ever since.  Brought to prominence in the world with Open Hearts a Dogme film she has continued to work in the Dogme style.  According to Wikipedia, in spite of her international reputation which includes an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film (In a Better World) the critics in her home country regard her as overly commercial.  She has made one film in Hollywood and is now working on another.