director quotes

7/27/2019 Director Quotes

1/8

Artistic expression is an assertion of individuality, and all artists compose their work di fferently. In the case of filmmaking, there are numerous approaches to

translating a story to celluloid. Inspired by director Wim Wenders recent advertising short, Wim Wenders Rules for Cinema Perfection, weve collected the

golden rules of filmmaking employed by 100 famous directors. These tips and tricks are a wonderful source of advice and inspiration even for the most

seasoned professionals. The rules also serve as a fascinating snapshot of each directors filmography, capturing the spirit of their work.

Wim Wenders

Finalcutis overrated. Only fools keep insisting on always having the final word. The wise swallow their pride in order to get to thebest possible cut.

Akira Kurosawa

During the shooting of ascene the directors eye has to catch even t he minutest detail. But t his does not mean glaring concentratedly at the set. While the

cameras are rolling, I rarely look directly at the actors, but focus my gaze somewhere else. By doing this I sense instantly when something isnt right.

Watching something does not mean fixing your gaze on it, but being aware of it in a natural way. I believe this is what the medieval Noh playwright and

theorist Zeami meant by watching with a detached gaze.

Richard Linklater

There are a million ideas in a world ofstories.Humans are storytelling animals. Everythings a story, everyones got stories, were perceiving stories, were

interested in stories. So to me, the big nut to crack is to how to tell a story, whats the right way to tell a particular st ory.

John Waters

No comedy should be longer than 90 minutes. Theres no such thing as agoodlong joke.

Terrence Malick

I film quite a bit offootage, then edit. Changes before your eyes, things you can do and things you cant. My attitude is always let it keep rolling.

Francis Ford Coppola

When you make amovie,always try to discover what the theme of the movie is in one or two words. Every time I made a film, I always knew what I thought

the theme was, the core, in one word. In The Godfather, it was succession. In The Conversation, it was privacy. InApocalypse, it was morality. The reason its

important to have this is because most of the time what a director really does is make decisions. All day long: Do you want it to be long hair or short hair? Do

you want a dress or pants? Do you want a beard or no beard? There are many times when you dont know the answer. Knowing what the theme is always

helps you.

I remember inThe Conversation, they brought all these coats to me, and they said: Do you want him to look like a detective, Humphrey Bogart? Do you want

him to look like a blah blah blah. I didnt know, and said the theme is privacy and chose the p lastic coat you could see th rough. So knowing the theme helps

you make a decision when youre not sure which way to go.

Sofia Coppola

I try to just make what I want to make or what I would want tosee. I try not to think about the audience too much.

Jane CampionPerformers are so vulnerable. Theyre frightened of humiliation, sure theirworkwill be crap. I try to make an environment where its warm, where its OK to

fail a kind of home, I suppose.

Sally Potter

Ive always traveled with thefilmsbecause I want the audience to be my teacher so that I can learn for the next one.

Steven Spielberg

Before I go off and direct a movie,I always look at four films. They tend to be The Seven Samurai,Lawrence Of Arabia, ItsA Wonderful LifeandThe Searchers.

Orson Welles

A long-playing fullshotis what always separates the men from the boys. Anybody can make movies with a pair of scissors and a two-inch lens.

Spike Lee

Music is, for me, a greattoolof a filmmaker, the same way cinematography, the acting, editing, post-production, the costumes are. You know, to help you tell

a story.

Frank Capra

There are norulesin filmmaking. Only sins. And the cardinal sin is dullness.

Kathryn Bigelow

Characterandemotionality dont always have to be relegated to quieter, more simple constructs.

Jean-Luc Godard

Afilmshould have a beginning, a middle, and an end, but not necessarily in that order.

Claire Denis

Ialwaysscout locations first. The apartments, the railway tracks, the caf, the canal I figure out the geography of the film.

Takeshi KitanoI intentionallyshootviolence to make the audience feel real pain. I have never and I will never shoot violence as if its some kind of action video game.
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2/8

Lynne Ramsay

Dont try and changethingsfor other people. Dont try and be persuaded by producers and people to change your vision. If you stick to your vision and youre

true to yourself, it kind of works. I mean, its tough. Its a bigFitzcarraldojourney, but then youll have your good karma at the end of the day. Youll have your

good soul. You know, if you start to sell little bits of it, you, you become nothing and nobody, and you dont have any vision [remaining].

Andrea Arnold

When your charactersarereally living they tell you what they do.

Mary Harron

I dont think there is any one route to directing.Other than that I think you just have to think By any means possible and take any job you can t hat will get

you experience. I also did a lot for free. I got paid virtually nothing for my first film, but it changed my life.

Alfred Hitchcock

The more successful the villain, the more successful thepicture.

Martin Scorsese

Always get to the set or the locationearly, so that you can be all a lone and draw your inspiration for the blocking and the setups in private and quiet. In one

sense, its about protecting yourself; in another sense, its about always being open to surprise, even from the set, because there may be some detail that you

hadnt noticed. I think this is crucial. There are many pictures that seem good in so many ways except one: They lack a sense of surprise, theyve never left the

page.

John Cassavetes

[In]directingyoure really like a host, that everyones going to your party, and its very difficult for [the crew] tohelp you get glory. Once they trust that you

really are interested in the work, and not in your own perfection, they will work very hard for you. The actors are the same. They dont want to be second

fiddle to a camera. When people begin t o feel a little upset, there begin t o be mysteries about filmmaking. There are no mysteries to making films. There is no

mystery to writing. I try to make it comfortable for the actor by realizing what theyre doing is so personal. If youre doin g a movie and somebody slaps a slate

in front of you and everybody stands around expecting you to be brilliant, then its gonna be like a contest. I like to develop an atmosphere where that doesnt

exist; where nobody is looking at you to see how good you are; where people can func tion. Its very hard to let the technical processes of film take over and

then expect the actors to reveal themselves. I mean, you cant take a shower at a dinner party. You make a movie to tell what you know about life about

your life. But after waiting around for eight hours, for set-ups, for lights, all of it, when it comes time to shoot, youre thinking, I dont wanna tell you about

my life anymore! Why should I tell you about my life! On a set theres really a lot that can hamper the actors. For example, in t his film, heres maybe the most

important moment in two peoples lives: a guy is committing his wife to a mental hospital. [In other movies] someone is also fiddling with your hair, putting

lipstick on you, placing lights above you, sitting you down, marking your feet, moving cameras, yelling, Hey, she doesnt look good; her skin is out of focus.

Now, I ask you, how can the actors concentrate? So we do all this before the actors come on stage. We all work quietly, and hopefully efficiently , and get it

done.

Zoe Cassavetes

Work very very hard. Thisbusinessis no joke. Make sure you know what you want or you might be taking someone elses view instead of your own.

Ang Lee

Something filmmakers have towatch, all filmmakers, is that film basically works not like books: its very direct, it impacts you directly, its photorealistic

images enlarged, and somehow it has to be realistic-looking, and somehow because the demand on attention is mandatory, it works on a emotional level, a

philosophical, the ideas dont translate in a movie. Ithas to have emotions. So you thats different from the book quite a bit. So it has to be an emotional

journey. . . . To me, I think that to me, its an visualization of feelings. Thats why you are doing it. Movies or any art is external stimulus, they dont carry

anything. They just stimulate, and its not about stimulating me, all that really matters is you, the viewer.

Lana Wachowski

Cinema is a socialartform. You cannot make a piece of cinema by yourself. No matter what you do, no matter how controlling, no matter how crazy

andFitzcarraldo-bizarre or how crazy generally you try to be, yelling at people with your bullhorn, you cant push a single pencil across thetable without help.

Its just the way it is. The final product will always be a sum of all of the parts that are working on it. So if you want to understand cinema, you have to think

about it as a social dynamic. And you have to investigate it and unpack it as a social project.

Stanley Kubrick

The directorsjobis to know what emotional statement he wants a character to convey in his scene or his line, and to exercise taste and judgment in helping

the actor give his best possible performance. By knowing the actors personality and gauging his strengths and weaknesses a director can help him to

overcome specific problems and realize his potential. But I think this aspect of directing is generally overemphasized. The d irectors taste and imagination

play a much more crucial role in the making of a film. Is it meaningful? Is it believable? Is it interesting? Those are the questions that have to be answered

several hundred times a day.

Ingmar Bergman

Afilmcauses me so many worries and such a lot of reactions that I have to love it in order to get over it and past it.

Federico Fellini

A persons clothes make up part of hischaracter.I draw the character with his costume. I suggest it to the stylists with my drawings; the drawings translate

some of my emotional impressions. For me eleganc e happens when there is a correspondence between a persons personality and how she dresses herself.

Finally, dont forget that costumes, like dreams, are symbolic communication. Dreams teach us that a language for everything exists for every object, every

color worn, every clothing detail. Hence, costumes provide an aesthetic objectification that helps to tell the characters story.
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3/8

Robert Bresson

When a sound can replace an image, cut the image or neutralize it. The ear goes more towards the within, the eye towards the outer.

Andrei Tarkovsky

No mise en scne has the right to berepeated,just as no two personalities are ever the same. As soon as a mise en scne turns into a sign, a clich, a concept

(however original it may be), then the whole thing characters, situation, psychology become schematic and false.

Roman PolanskiYou have to show violence the way it is. If you dont showit realistically, then thats immoral and harmful. If you dont upset people, then thats obscenity.

Nora Ephron

Structure is the key tonarrative. These are the crucial questions any storyteller must answer: Where does i t begin? Where does the beginning start t o end and

the middle begin? Where does the middle start to end and the end begin? . . . All the regular questions that face writers also face us. Where does the story

begin, where is the middle, and where is the end? Each of those things is entirely up to the writer. They are the hardest decisions for any writer to make about

any story, whether fiction or nonfiction. If you make the right decision about structure, many other things become absolutely clear. On some level, the rest is

easy.

Jodie Foster

Directingmoviesis life-changing. Itsan absolutely life-changing thing. Thats why you cant throw it away on some shooter movie about scuba diving. . . . Its

waking up at three in the morning, its coming up with ideas, its downloading your whole childhood and the people that youve known and the experiences

that youve had you cant just do that for something you dont believe in. Its a life-changing thing, and it allows you to get through a spiritual crisis in a

completely full way. You think about it, you ruminate about it, you ask people, you do research, you inhabit each one of the characters and say, Well, what

about from their point of view? What about from his point of view? How does it look, how does it sound, what kind of music will be playing . . . its a way of

evolving and changing and getting through an experience in a full way. Its fantastic.

Amy Heckerling

Im psychotic. I dont care how the worldworks. I do what I want to do. . . . If you want to do it, you cant listen to what the world is telling you. You do what

you want. If I tell you what I feel truthfully, there will be a [ton] of people who respond to that.

Miranda July

A Handy Tip for the Easily Distracted

1. Collect the distracting items.

2. Trap them.

3. Choose a precious thing.

This is your hostage.

4. Put your hostage in danger.

5. You are free.

Go be productive!

Jennifer Lynch

Trust yourself so that the mistakes you make are the ones youve made and not something youve made because you were afraid to do what you wanted to do.

Own your mistakes, then you can own your successes. Try to be as good a listener as you are a speaker. Dont just put the emphasis on saying things. Listen.

You can learn a lot even by saying no to things. You help define what you do want and what you can do. I would mainly say trust yourself and dont curl up in

the fetal position and cry as much asyou did.

David Lynch

Im lucky, because I like all the different parts [ofdirecting]. And they are all extremely important, because if one or two fall short, the whole thing falls apart.

So you have to be involved in every part of the process, making choices that reinforce the whole idea which sta rted the thing in t he beginning. And you have

to be very watchful and open to fantastic new ideas. Once you see something right in front of you, like an actress with a certain dress walk into a certain

light and say a certain word, you can almost pass out. Youve got all the parts together, but now its really something different, and it goes to another place. . . .

You cant give priority to one over the other. You have to know the sound, the lighting, the placement of people, everything and you keep on going until it is

right or as right as you can get it. It talks to you, you know. You are always comparing what you see in front of you with the original idea, and you know whenits right and when its not working. And sometimes you also have the happy feeling that its better than the original idea, because of other peoples input and

having it all in front of you.

Kimberly Peirce

Fall deeply in love with character and story. I give my heart to those characters. I take it on as a responsibility , and then its up to me to teach myself and

become better at my craft in order to serve those characters. Every day I learn. Put my best foot forward and listen to what the brilliant Julianne Moore says

about her character. Listen to what Chloes saying about her character. Listen to what my cinematographer is saying. Be as open minded as you can. Know

your craft inside and out. Be very open to the brilliant people that you hire, make it the best working environment, and let the best ideas come forward. And

dont have any ego, theres no place for that. It doesnt matter. Honestly, you can learn things and the work can get better and better if you create an

environment where you can allow it to be better. If you do all that, you will succeed. I know you will because not enough people do that. Human beings need

stories. Human beings love stories. Get better at your craft. Tell better stories. And you will do well.

Its okay to be afraid to fail but dont ever let it stop you f rom making art or doing anything. You want to tell a story? Y ou dont think you are good enough?

You dont know what to do? Try to do it, go out there. Put it out there. Listen to the audience. There are things in CarrieI got right; there are things I got

wrong. The audience taught me, and I fixed it.

People ask me, Arent you scared of failing in such a public space? Yes! Of course I am, but it doesnt matter. Youll fail, youll get back up, youll do it again,and youll succeed. I think thats the biggest thing I would tell anybody it doesnt matter. Nobody is keeping score except for you. For women, yes the odds

are against you. Yes, the statistics are too low but so what? Thats not to minimize it. But thats to acknowledge it, we want it to be better. But if you put your
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4/8

heart and soul into it and you are good at what you do, youll succeed. And have fun! I think the more fun you have and the more you love it, if you put in

what you want itll come through.

Susan Seidelman

The most important job of the director is casting. If you can cast your film in an interesting way, then youre 50 percent there.

You gain [actors'] trust sometimes through the rehearsalprocess,through interactions with them, by getting to know them, listening to their opinions. Its a

little like being a therapist or a friend: Then once an actor trusts you, you can give criticism in a positive way, to shape the performance. lf you dont have that

trust relationship, it can be detrimental. On the other hand, Ive worked with actors like Meryl Streep who are far more experienced than I am. In that case,

its about working together to figure out who the character is, but then trusting the actors instincts to be able to deliver that character onscreen.

Marina de Van

Bepatient.

Catherine Breillat

Be what wemake, and not who we are.

Lena Dunham

Dont wait around for someone else to tell your story.Do it yourself by whatever means necessary.

Jafar Panahi

You mustnt look at afilmwith only one point of view.

John Singleton

Nobody cares about your littlemovie.You have to care about your little movie. . . . Make it and shoot it. And dont give a fuck.

Diablo Cody

Dont ever agonize about the hordes of other writers who are ostensibly yourcompetition.No one is capable of doing what you do.

Robert Wise

If it seems a trifleslow, if it feels a trifle slow on the set, itll be twice as slow in the projection room.

George A. Romero

Collaborate, dont dictate. Every department head has somethingto offer. Listen and gratefully accept their offerings. Theyre moviemakers, too.

Werner Herzog

The opinion of thepublicis sacred. The director is a cook who merely offers different dishes to them and has no right to insist that they react in a particularway.

Forest Whitaker

Thats important to me, connecting withpeople,with feelings. Thats always been a goal in my work. . . . Im not attracted to anything that doesnt have to do

with real relationships.

Yasujir Ozu

I consciously did away with fade-ins and replaced them with the cut. Henceforth, I never used such editing techniquesagain. In fact, neither dissolve, fade-in

nor fade-out can be regarded as the grammar of film, they are no more t han characteristics of the camera.

John Ford

When youre able to distinguish the art of the horizon at the bottom of aframe, or at the top of the frame but not going right through the center of the

frame when youre able to appreciate why its at the top and why its at the bottom, youmight make a pretty good picture-maker.

Jessica Yu

1. Fifteen minutes before screening yourrough cutfor the first time, pour glass of wine. Sip.2. Start rough cut.

3. Despair at how much work remains to be done.

4. Drain glass of wine. Sigh.

5. Appreciate how much work you have already accomplished.

6. Pour another glass of wine. Swig.

7. Marvel at how well the cut flows.

8. Repeat step 6. There is real brilliance here. Who made this?

9. If you actually find yourself asking, Who made this? stop and drink coffee.

10. If step 7 does not occur, retreat to another room with the rest of the bottle.

Note: Ifyou do not drink alcohol, you can try substituting chocolate or an entire pie (your choice of filling) for wine.

Lee Daniels

I think that when you have audacity,you will get polarization. I dont work with fear, and I dont work with actors that are fearful.

\
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e-of-weaknesshttp://www.igorslab.com/home/2013/9/23/interview-with-dark-touch-writer-director-marina-de-van.htmlhttp://curnblog.com/2014/03/07/interviewing-susan-seidelman-madonna-menopause/


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Paul Verhoeven

I would be in good physical condition. Avoid drinking and abusing yourself in any way because shooting a filmis so physically exhausting. Its twenty hours a

day. And also try and prepare as much as possible. Make as many sketches or write down for yourself specific notes before you come to the set, at least for the

first week or so. That way if you get stuck or feel uninspired you can just turn to the storyboard and do what it says. Perhaps its not the best it could be, but at

least its okay, and that way you dont have to sit there and say to yourself Okay, now I have to be inventive. Because then you get scared and lose your

confidence. Then after the first ten days or so you loosen up. But in the beginning its always like What now? So get as mu ch sleep as you can, at least five or

six hours a night if you can, and have a plan of some sort for the first couple weeks. Also be nice and have a good relationship with your actors and crew

members. Listen to suggestions and be willing to admit when youre wrong about something. Even apologize in front of the whole cast and crew if necessary. Istill do that today. I make terrible mistakes and get upset sometimes. Never be afraid to be seen as someone who makes a mistake and can own up to it. Like

my parents used to tell me If you ever have a fight, try to solve it before the sun goes down.

David Cronenberg

You start selling themoviebefore you make it.

Krzysztof Kieslowski

I never reallythink where I put thecamera.It comes naturally to me. I dont analyze and I dont contrive. If you havent got your own compass within

yourself which clearly points you in a certain direction then you wont find it. And it doesnt depend on any film school or anything you might le arn in a film

school.

Carl Theodor Dreyer

Its from the daily grind of making films that you learn the craft.

Oscar Micheaux

We want to see our lives dramatized on the screen as we are living it, the same as other people, the world over.

Gordon Parks

We needmoviesabout the history of our people, yes, but we need heroic fantasies about our people, too. We all need a little James Bond now and then.

Ousmane Sembne

The role of theartistis not to say what is good, but to be able to denounce. He must f eel the heartbeat of society and be able to create the image society gives

to him. He can orient society, he can say it is exaggerating, going overboard, but the power to decide escapes every artist. I live in a capitalist society and I

cant go any further than the people. Those for change are only a handful, a minority, and we dont have thatDon Quixoteattitude that we can transform

society. One work cannot instigate change. I dont think that in history there has been a single revolutionary work that hasbrought the people to create a

revolution. Its not after having read Marx or Lenin that you go out and make a revolution. Its not after reading Marcuse in America. All the works are just a

point of reference in history. And t hats all. Before the end of an act of creation, society usually has already surpassed it. All that an artist can do is bring the

people to the point of having an idea of the thing, an idea in their heads that they share, and that helps. People have kil led and died for an idea. If I

understand your criticism, then Im happy. I had no belief that after people sawMandabi, they would go out and make a revolution. But people liked the fi lmand talked about it, though my government didnt. They wanted to censor the movie at the point where it said that Honesty is a crime in Senegal. People

discussedMandabiin the post office or in the market and decided they were not going to pay out their money like the person in my movie. They reported those

trying to victimize them, which led to many arrests. But when they denounced the crooks, they would say it was not the person but the government which was

corrupt. And they would say they were going to change the country. I know my own limits. But through nothing more than just supplying these people with

ideas, I am participating in their awareness.

Abbas Kiarostami

I never reflect or convey t hat which I have not experienced myself.

Ossie Davis

Directing calls for avisionand an itch, a dedicated focus, energy, the ability to be mean and stubborn if you have to, and at times, a little devious.

Ida Lupino

Instead of saying Do this, Itried to makeeverybodya part of it. Often I pretended to a cameraman to know less than I did. That way I got more

cooperation.

Penny Marshall

Do whatever you can that doesnt compromise yourmorals.

Robert Rodriguez

I tell people making DVmoviesat home, use it for practice. Dont even try to get it distributed unless its fucking fantastic. If not , just keep cranking them

out. Get better; get better at storytelling. It allows you to do what I did when I started out, which is make a ton of movies for nothing. And you get so much

better at it after a while, you can write them and direct them and you know the structure. You just need to learn how to do it and you learn by doing.

Woody Allen

Its only theworkthat counts. Dont read about yourself. Dont have big discussions about your work. Just keep your nose to the grindstone. And dont think

about any of the perks. Dont think about the money or laudatory things. The less you can think about yourself, the better. Its like being a basebal l pitcher;

the less youre conscious of your motion the better you pitch. Just do good work, dont waste time thinking about anything else, dont join the show business

circus, dont pay attention to the distractions that people send your way, and everything else will fall into place. If people dont like your work, keep doing

your own thing and either theyll wise up or youll find yourself out of work and deserving to be. If people hate your work, let them they may be right. Or

not. And if people even call you a genius, its very important to run because you have to ask, if youre a genius, then what is Shakespeare or Mozart or
http://thehollywoodinterview.blogspot.com/2010/09/paul-verhoeven-starship-troopers.htmlhttp://thehollywoodinterview.blogspot.com/2010/09/paul-verhoeven-starship-troopers.htmlhttp://thehollywoodinterview.blogspot.com/2010/09/paul-verhoeven-starship-troopers.htmlhttp://thehollywoodinterview.blogspot.com/2010/09/paul-verhoeven-starship-troopers.htmlhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCGI81TyTzUhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCGI81TyTzUhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCGI81TyTzUhttp://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001425/bio?ref_=nm_dyk_qt_sm#quoteshttp://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001425/bio?ref_=nm_dyk_qt_sm#quoteshttp://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001425/bio?ref_=nm_dyk_qt_sm#quoteshttp://charlesmicheaux.wordpress.com/2013/06/28/oscar-micheaux-facts-best-quotes-by-charles-micheaux/http://charlesmicheaux.wordpress.com/2013/06/28/oscar-micheaux-facts-best-quotes-by-charles-micheaux/http://charlesmicheaux.wordpress.com/2013/06/28/oscar-micheaux-facts-best-quotes-by-charles-micheaux/http://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/gordon-parks-big-scorehttp://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/gordon-parks-big-scorehttp://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/gordon-parks-big-scorehttp://tvmultiversity.blogspot.com/2011/03/interview-with-ousmane-sembene.htmlhttp://tvmultiversity.blogspot.com/2011/03/interview-with-ousmane-sembene.htmlhttp://tvmultiversity.blogspot.com/2011/03/interview-with-ousmane-sembene.htmlhttp://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/abbaskiaro500892.htmlhttp://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/abbaskiaro500892.htmlhttp://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/abbaskiaro500892.htmlhttp://books.google.com/books?id=9ZAQAQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.com/books?id=9ZAQAQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.com/books?id=9ZAQAQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.com/books?id=WSaMu4F06AQC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.com/books?id=WSaMu4F06AQC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.com/books?id=WSaMu4F06AQC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://www.laweekly.com/publicspectacle/2012/09/21/penny-marshall-on-her-new-memoir-my-mother-was-nuts-and-how-she-influenced-women-in-comedyhttp://www.laweekly.com/publicspectacle/2012/09/21/penny-marshall-on-her-new-memoir-my-mother-was-nuts-and-how-she-influenced-women-in-comedyhttp://www.laweekly.com/publicspectacle/2012/09/21/penny-marshall-on-her-new-memoir-my-mother-was-nuts-and-how-she-influenced-women-in-comedyhttp://www.moviemaker.com/blog-main/wisdom-wednesday-robert-rodriguezs-things-ive-learned/http://www.moviemaker.com/blog-main/wisdom-wednesday-robert-rodriguezs-things-ive-learned/http://www.moviemaker.com/blog-main/wisdom-wednesday-robert-rodriguezs-things-ive-learned/http://ifearbrooklyn.com/2012/09/04/woody-allens-advice-for-aspiring-film-makers/http://ifearbrooklyn.com/2012/09/04/woody-allens-advice-for-aspiring-film-makers/http://ifearbrooklyn.com/2012/09/04/woody-allens-advice-for-aspiring-film-makers/http://ifearbrooklyn.com/2012/09/04/woody-allens-advice-for-aspiring-film-makers/http://ifearbrooklyn.com/2012/09/04/woody-allens-advice-for-aspiring-film-makers/http://www.moviemaker.com/blog-main/wisdom-wednesday-robert-rodriguezs-things-ive-learned/http://www.laweekly.com/publicspectacle/2012/09/21/penny-marshall-on-her-new-memoir-my-mother-was-nuts-and-how-she-influenced-women-in-comedyhttp://books.google.com/books?id=WSaMu4F06AQC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.com/books?id=9ZAQAQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/abbaskiaro500892.htmlhttp://tvmultiversity.blogspot.com/2011/03/interview-with-ousmane-sembene.htmlhttp://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/gordon-parks-big-scorehttp://charlesmicheaux.wordpress.com/2013/06/28/oscar-micheaux-facts-best-quotes-by-charles-micheaux/http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001425/bio?ref_=nm_dyk_qt_sm#quoteshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCGI81TyTzUhttp://thehollywoodinterview.blogspot.com/2010/09/paul-verhoeven-starship-troopers.html


6/8

Einstein? With me its always modified downward a comedy genius. Id say a comedy genius is to a real genius what the president of the Moose Lodge is to

the President of the United States.

Gregg Araki

Definitely watch and make a lot ofmovies,whether its short movies or longer movies. But what I feel strongly in contemporary independent cinema is that,

when you watch a lot of movies these days, theyre not really about anything. Because of the flavor of the month at Sundance thing, there seems to be a group

of people who just want to be filmmakers without having a film to make or anything to say. They just want to make a movie, any movie. They just want to go

to Sundance. Thats not where I came from, and thats not where a lot of my contemporaries came fr om. In our very first movies, there was a passion there. Itfelt like if I dont make this movie, I will die. So much was invested in it. So thats what I say to new filmmakers; it has to be something youre so passionate

about you are willing to die to make it, and thats something thats lacking from a lot of the people coming through.

Alfonso Cuarn

When I finish amovie, I dont ever see the movie again. The moment I finish the color correction and the mix, I never seen any of my movies ever again. I

just try to explore what I can learn from the experience and move on.

Quentin Tarantino

When Imwriting, its about the page. Its not about the movie. Its not about cinema. Its about the literature of me putting my pen to paper and writing a

good page and making it work completely as a document unto itself. Thats my first artistic contribution. If I do my job right, by the end of the script, I should

be having the thought, You know, if I were to just publish this now and not make it . . . , Im done.

Amma Asante

All I try to do with mystoriesis try and walk in each of the characters shoes.

Kevin Smith

Whenever Im notshooting, Im in the editing room with my footage. While the crew is taking 15 minutes to an hour to set up the next shot, Im behindthe

Avid, putting the flick together.

George Lucas

Having lots ofoptionsmeans you have to have a lot more discipline, but its the same kind of discipline that a painter, a novelist or a composer would have.

In a way, working in [digital] is much less frustrating than working in film, but its not as though its limitless no matter how you go. The artist will always

push the art form until he bumps up against the technology thats the nature of the artist. Because cinema is such a technological medium, theres a lot of

technology to bump into, and I think as more people use digital theyre going to find [it has] a lot more limitations. Some o f those limitations will be

[equivalent to] the limitations they had with film, and some of those limitations will just be because theyve gone so far that they finally bumped into the

technological ceiling.

James Cameron

Dont get seduced by your own stuff. Dont get high on your own supply. The hardest thing as a filmmakeris when youre watching a film that youve worked

on for several years. You know every frame so intimately that holding lots of the objectivity of a new viewer who has just seen it for the first time is the

hardest thing. Every aesthetic decision you make and you make thousands of them every day, have to in theory, must be done from you being a blank

slate. You almost have to run a program, like a mind wipe, every time you watch the movie.

Ridley Scott

Audiences are less intrigued, honestly, by battle. Theyre more intrigued byhumanrelations. Ifyoure making a film about the trappings of the period, and

youre forgetting that human relationships are the most engaging part of the storytelling process, then youre in trouble.

Wes Anderson

If somebody asks me about thethemesof something Im working on, I never have any idea what the t hemes are. . . . Somebody tells me t he themes later. I

sort of try to avoid developing themes. I want to just keep it a little bit more abstract. But t hen, what ends up happening is, they say, Well, I see a lot here that

you did before, and its connected to this other movie you did, and . . . that almost seems like something I dont quite choose. It chooses me.

David Fincher

What you learn from that first, and I dont call it trial by fire, I call it baptism by fire, is that you are going to have to take all of theresponsibility,because

basically when it gets right down to it, you are going to get all of the blame, so you might as well have made all of the decisions that led to people either liking

it or disliking it. Theres nothing worse than hearing somebody say Oh, you made that movie? I thought that movie sucked, and you have to agree with them,

you know?

Alice Wu

You have so many balls in t he air and you want to hire the absolute best people that you can to helpyou with it.

Bruce La Bruce

I think aesthetics are alwaysimportant. Its important to choose the right format for the story youre telling.

Sarah Polley

Its been really important to me to create moments where theres a breath or moments where theres a laugh or moments where theres real lifethats allowed

to seep in through the cracks of whatever melodrama is happening, because thats what does happen in life. Some of the funniest moments Ive ever

experienced have been in the midst of tragic situations in my life.
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7/8

Atom Egoyan

I really preferproducingmy films, because in that case youre not helpless, and you actually do it the way you want. But the moment that you work as a

director for hire, and youre working within a system, then testing is really important for the potential investors, and when things are really not working, then

you cant just walk away from that. You look at a film likeThe Sweet Hereafterthat could never have survived a testing. Actually, Exoticawas tested, at a

marketing screening, and I remember I got a call at the time saying that, People feel that theyd like to know what was going on earlier, and theyd like to

have the last scene at the beginning, and there should be a voiceover when Christine comes into the club for the first time, and Im going, Oh, my God, Im so

thankful that I dont have to listen to t his, and that I can go, Its great that you had that screening. And this is how the film is. You would make the film clear

for the audience, but you also eviscerate the film of any power. And that ending that I was so proud of would have just been a lie a joke.

Park Chan-Wook

If you would ask me what my idealprocessis, I would say, long pre-production, long production and long post-production.

Ava DuVernay

I rarely meet people who tell me what theyr edoing. I often meet people who ask, Can you help me? or How do I do this? or Do you want to have coffee?

Can I take you to coffee? Can we grab a coffee? Id love to take you to coffee and pick your brain a little bit. Can I send you a script? Can you read my

script? I have a script that Id love for you to just check out if you can. Can you be my mentor? I need a mentor. I would love if you could mentor me. Is it

possible for us to talk? All of that energy, all of that focus to extract from other people is distracting you from what youre doing. All of that is desperation.

When I figured that out, things started to change for me. When Im meeting people and theyre in that moment, I want to say something to them. Knock it

off, because its never going to work for you. That feeling of I need help. I need all of these things to proceed. And when I got that, a revolution happened for

me

All of the time youre spending trying to get someone to mentor you, try ing to have a coffee, all of the things we try to do to move ahead in the industry is

time that youre not spending time working on your screenplay, strengthening your character arcs, setting up a table reading to hear the words, thinkingabout your rehearsal techniques, thinking about symbolism in your production design, your color palette. All the timeyoure focusing on trying to grab,

youre being desperate and youre not doing. You have to be doing something. Because all of the so-called action that youre doing is hinging on someone

doing something for you.

Billy Wilder

Adirectormust be a policeman, a midwife, a psychoanalyst, a sycophant, and a bastard.

Jim Jarmusch

I loverehearsingbecause in rehearsals there are no mistakes, nothing is wrong, some things apply or lead you to focus on the character and the things that

dont apply are equally valuable because they lead you to towards what does. Im not a director who says, Say your line, hit your mark, thats not my style. I

want them to work with me and everyone I choose to collaborate with elevates our work above what I could imagine on my own. Hopefully if not its not

working right. Im like a navigator and I try to encourage our collaboration and find the best way that will produce fruit. Ilike fruit. I like cherries, I like

bananas.

Jean Cocteau

Listen carefully to firstcriticismsmade of your work. Note just what it is about your work that critics dont like then cultivate it. Thats the only part of your

work thats individual and worth keeping.

John Hughes

Most of mycharactersare romantic rather than sexual. I think thats an essential difference in my pictures. I think they are more accurat e in portraying young

people as romantic as wanting a relationship, an understanding with a member of the opposite sex more than just physical sex.

Wong Kar-Wai

The editingprocessis almost like the shooting process. Its almost like framing. When we talk about framing, its about the choice of directors . What are the

things that you want the audience to see, and what are the things that you want to exclude? To exclude them doesnt mean its not working, but it will give you

a sense of expectations.In the Mood for Love, for instance, the original idea ofMy Blueberry Nights . . . its based on a short film I made during that period. In

fact, it is not a short film, it is chapters inIn the Mood for Love . . . But at the end of the day I realized, t he film itself, the story happens in the 1960s, its strong

enough so we dont need these chapters. These chapters would become a short film a fterwards to be presented at Cannes. Somehow this one day when you

have the right moment, you will turn it into a feature film, or you can turn it into a book, or they will stay as a short film, as ever. The only thing is I will onlyshow them when I think they are t he right material to show at that point.

Sidney Poitier

I always had the ability to sayno.Thats how I called my own shots.

Sam Peckinpah

I think right now its a writersmarket. It depends on what form and who i ts for. Look at what is being sold and who is selling and who is buying and what

kind of script, and then get the names of who those people are, and lie, cheat, steal, bribe and get in to meet them and con.

Roger Corman

What you have to get is a very good first reel,because people want to know whats going on. Then you need to have a very good last reel because people want

to hear how it all turns out. Everything else doesnt matter.

Julie Dash

I think themost important thing as anartist.. . you have to go into this process, or this game, or this business with your own personal mission statement inplace, knowing exactly what you want to do and why you want to do it. So, when various situations come up, and they will come up and present themselves,
http://www.theartsdesk.com/film/10-questions-atom-egoyan?page=0,2http://www.theartsdesk.com/film/10-questions-atom-egoyan?page=0,2http://www.theartsdesk.com/film/10-questions-atom-egoyan?page=0,2http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/fox-reportedly-cut-20-minutes-from-park-chan-wooks-stoker-bong-joon-ho-talks-next-projects-20140620http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/fox-reportedly-cut-20-minutes-from-park-chan-wooks-stoker-bong-joon-ho-talks-next-projects-20140620http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/fox-reportedly-cut-20-minutes-from-park-chan-wooks-stoker-bong-joon-ho-talks-next-projects-20140620http://www.indiewire.com/article/aspiring-filmmakers-ava-duvernay-thinks-you-should-lose-the-desperation-and-just-make-somethinghttp://www.indiewire.com/article/aspiring-filmmakers-ava-duvernay-thinks-you-should-lose-the-desperation-and-just-make-somethinghttp://www.indiewire.com/article/aspiring-filmmakers-ava-duvernay-thinks-you-should-lose-the-desperation-and-just-make-somethinghttp://www.indiewire.com/article/aspiring-filmmakers-ava-duvernay-thinks-you-should-lose-the-desperation-and-just-make-somethinghttp://www.newyorker.com/archive/2001/10/22/011022crbo_books?currentPage=allhttp://www.newyorker.com/archive/2001/10/22/011022crbo_books?currentPage=allhttp://www.newyorker.com/archive/2001/10/22/011022crbo_books?currentPage=allhttp://www.jim-jarmusch.net/biblio/online/interview_by_geoff_andrew.htmlhttp://www.jim-jarmusch.net/biblio/online/interview_by_geoff_andrew.htmlhttp://www.jim-jarmusch.net/biblio/online/interview_by_geoff_andrew.htmlhttp://www.artadvice.com/blog/2003/11/01/understanding-rejection/http://www.artadvice.com/blog/2003/11/01/understanding-rejection/http://www.artadvice.com/blog/2003/11/01/understanding-rejection/http://www.artadvice.com/blog/2003/11/01/understanding-rejection/http://www.theweeklings.com/jcastle/2014/05/06/sixteen-candles-turns-30-still-looks-16/http://www.theweeklings.com/jcastle/2014/05/06/sixteen-candles-turns-30-still-looks-16/http://www.theweeklings.com/jcastle/2014/05/06/sixteen-candles-turns-30-still-looks-16/http://www.theweeklings.com/jcastle/2014/05/06/sixteen-candles-turns-30-still-looks-16/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0e__NMHiDghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0e__NMHiDghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0e__NMHiDghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0e__NMHiDghttp://www.gq.com/style/blogs/the-gq-eye/2011/09/your-morning-shot-sidney-poitier.htmlhttp://www.gq.com/style/blogs/the-gq-eye/2011/09/your-morning-shot-sidney-poitier.htmlhttp://www.gq.com/style/blogs/the-gq-eye/2011/09/your-morning-shot-sidney-poitier.htmlhttp://filmschoolrejects.com/features/6-filmmaking-tips-from-sam-peckinpah.phphttp://filmschoolrejects.com/features/6-filmmaking-tips-from-sam-peckinpah.phphttp://filmschoolrejects.com/features/6-filmmaking-tips-from-sam-peckinpah.phphttp://books.google.com/books?id=OT7XSthuF5YC&printsec=frontcover&vq=advice#v=onepage&q=advice&f=falsehttp://books.google.com/books?id=OT7XSthuF5YC&printsec=frontcover&vq=advice#v=onepage&q=advice&f=falsehttp://books.google.com/books?id=OT7XSthuF5YC&printsec=frontcover&vq=advice#v=onepage&q=advice&f=falsehttp://newblackman.blogspot.com/2014/02/julie-dash-reelblack-interview.htmlhttp://newblackman.blogspot.com/2014/02/julie-dash-reelblack-interview.htmlhttp://newblackman.blogspot.com/2014/02/julie-dash-reelblack-interview.htmlhttp://newblackman.blogspot.com/2014/02/julie-dash-reelblack-interview.htmlhttp://books.google.com/books?id=OT7XSthuF5YC&printsec=frontcover&vq=advice#v=onepage&q=advice&f=falsehttp://filmschoolrejects.com/features/6-filmmaking-tips-from-sam-peckinpah.phphttp://www.gq.com/style/blogs/the-gq-eye/2011/09/your-morning-shot-sidney-poitier.htmlhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0e__NMHiDghttp://www.theweeklings.com/jcastle/2014/05/06/sixteen-candles-turns-30-still-looks-16/http://www.artadvice.com/blog/2003/11/01/understanding-rejection/http://www.jim-jarmusch.net/biblio/online/interview_by_geoff_andrew.htmlhttp://www.newyorker.com/archive/2001/10/22/011022crbo_books?currentPage=allhttp://www.indiewire.com/article/aspiring-filmmakers-ava-duvernay-thinks-you-should-lose-the-desperation-and-just-make-somethinghttp://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/fox-reportedly-cut-20-minutes-from-park-chan-wooks-stoker-bong-joon-ho-talks-next-projects-20140620http://www.theartsdesk.com/film/10-questions-atom-egoyan?page=0,2


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you know pretty much how youre going to deal with it, how youre going to react, how youre going to work around it, how youre going to subvert it, or just

step back and allow it to happen.

William Friedkin

The most important facets to me of what afilmmakerneeds to succeed are ambition, luck, and the grace of God. I am not mentioning talent, you may notice,

because there are a lot of extremely untalented people making stupid movies who have been very lucky and very ambitious. And a lot of guys I knew who had

great talent never connected, never, and just disappeared into the flow. Ambition, luck, and the grace of God, thats the formula as I observe it.

Fritz Lang

There was a time when all I looked for was a goodstory,but nowadays everything has to look like the size of Mount Rushmore, and the actors in close-up

look as though they belong there.

Mel Brooks

Sit down. . . .Sit downany time you see a chair. Otherwise as youre working you dont realize youre on your feet for twenty hours. Youre more tired than

you know. Get off your feet and sit down.

Chantal Akerman

I am not interested in realtimeand also not in the dramatic and codified time of cinema that manipulated duration. Lets say I take my time.

Pedro Almodvar

I dont get involved with myactors.I dont get so involved with the films . . . If I lived like my characters, I would have been dead before I made 16 films.

Kenneth Anger

I dont put invisualmaterial that doesnt have a direct connection with the kind of dreamlike plotline.

Bernardo Bertolucci

I dont filmmessages. I let the post office take care of those.

Kelly Reichardt

The lies are in the dialogue, the truthis in the visuals.
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