Rhythm

Question: “In all your films, the pacing is very quick. Do you have the actors deliver their lines faster?”
Billy Wilder: “Well, there is a sort of a misconception that pace and quickly speaking is the same thing. You can have pace by people not speaking quickly. It depends on the cut. It depends on the rhythm of the thing, because leisurely moments, silent moments, they have much more power, but certain pictures have to be played at a good clip. But pace and actors just rattling things off…, you know, don’t confuse that.”