Quotes by Director | Beyond Motive 25/66

top of page

Quotes by Director

"I just love real characters, they're not pretentious, and every emotion is on the surface, they're regular working people. Their likes, their dislikes, their loves, their hates, their passions; they're all right there on the surface."

"I just love real characters, they're not pretentious, and every emotion is on the surface, they're regular working people. Their likes, their dislikes, their loves, their hates, their passions; they're all right there on the surface."

David O. Russell, American Director

Love, People, Emotion, Right

4

"Same thing with film, by the time you've finished shooting and you've really been into everything, you've touched up everything in the editing room. You've gone in there and taken little bits from everything."

"Same thing with film, by the time you've finished shooting and you've really been into everything, you've touched up everything in the editing room. You've gone in there and taken little bits from everything."

Ridley Scott, British Director

4

"At the first screening, there were a lot of areas that we went around and around about. Then we had our second screening. It played better. It's almost a reasonable length film now!"

"At the first screening, there were a lot of areas that we went around and around about. Then we had our second screening. It played better. It's almost a reasonable length film now!"

Terry Gilliam, American Director

4

"The greatest nations have all acted like gangsters and the smallest like prostitutes."

"The greatest nations have all acted like gangsters and the smallest like prostitutes."

Stanley Kubrick, American Director

Nation, Nations

4

"The extreme limit of wisdom, that's what the public calls madness."

"The extreme limit of wisdom, that's what the public calls madness."

Jean Cocteau, French Director

Wisdom, Extreme, Madness, Public

4

"I hope that Requiem is better than Pi. I hope that Pi is better than my student films, and I'm hoping that I'm getting better as I get older."

"I hope that Requiem is better than Pi. I hope that Pi is better than my student films, and I'm hoping that I'm getting better as I get older."

Darren Aronofsky, American Director

4

"And anyway, it's only movies. to stop me I think they'll ahve to shoot me in the head."

"And anyway, it's only movies. to stop me I think they'll ahve to shoot me in the head."

Ridley Scott, British Director

4

"So when I was very young, I longed for Brazil."

"So when I was very young, I longed for Brazil."

Walter Salles, Brazilian Director

4

"The truth will only be told over a career."

"The truth will only be told over a career."

Richard Linklater, American Director

Truth, Career, Will

4

"I can't see America any other way than with a European's eyes. It fascinates me and terrifies me at the same time."

"I can't see America any other way than with a European's eyes. It fascinates me and terrifies me at the same time."

Sergio Leone, Italian Director

Time, America, Eyes

4

"Whether you're a newspaper journalist, a lawyer, a doctor. You have to organize your thoughts."

"Whether you're a newspaper journalist, a lawyer, a doctor. You have to organize your thoughts."

Frederick Wiseman, American Director

Thought, Thoughts

4

"In comedy, though, it's good to get feedback from the audience about what they find funny."

"In comedy, though, it's good to get feedback from the audience about what they find funny."

Bobby Farrelly, American Director

Fun, Funny, Comedy

4

"Several times we were stranded in strange places without any money and with our credit cards cancelled - trapped in a hotel that we couldn't check out of because we had no money to check out."

"Several times we were stranded in strange places without any money and with our credit cards cancelled - trapped in a hotel that we couldn't check out of because we had no money to check out."

Renny Harlin, Finnish Director

Money, Cards, Credit

4

"Actors need bricks to play with, and in fact we rejected all the improvised fragments we had made without a plan. Improvisation without a plan is like tennis without tennis balls."

"Actors need bricks to play with, and in fact we rejected all the improvised fragments we had made without a plan. Improvisation without a plan is like tennis without tennis balls."

Lars von Trier, Danish Director

Actor, Actors, Fact, Play, Tennis

4

"It's very difficult to break into motion pictures, but it's oddly easier for directors today because of independent films and cable, who have inherited for the most part those films of substance that the studios are reluctant to finance."

"It's very difficult to break into motion pictures, but it's oddly easier for directors today because of independent films and cable, who have inherited for the most part those films of substance that the studios are reluctant to finance."

Mark Rydell, American Director

4

"I kind of worry about that a little bit - we lost our film culture for 30 years because the Americans came in and bought up all the cinema chains and wouldn't show any Australian films."

"I kind of worry about that a little bit - we lost our film culture for 30 years because the Americans came in and bought up all the cinema chains and wouldn't show any Australian films."

Yahoo Serious, Australian Director

Worry, Americans, Cinema, Culture, Film

4

"In Afghanistan, this is the problem, because everybody holds a piece of that mirror, and they all look at it and claim that they hold the entire truth."

"In Afghanistan, this is the problem, because everybody holds a piece of that mirror, and they all look at it and claim that they hold the entire truth."

Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iranian Director

Truth, Afghanistan

4

"If bitterness wants to get into the act, I offer it a cookie or a gumdrop."

"If bitterness wants to get into the act, I offer it a cookie or a gumdrop."

James Broughton, American Director

Act, Bitterness

4

"Well, I started thinking about what you were saying about how your movies need to make a profit. Now, what is the one thing, if you put it in a movie, it'll be successful?"

"Well, I started thinking about what you were saying about how your movies need to make a profit. Now, what is the one thing, if you put it in a movie, it'll be successful?"

Ed Wood, American Director

Movies, Successful, Now, Profit

4

"There are worse things in life than death. Have you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman?"

"There are worse things in life than death. Have you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman?"

Woody Allen, American Director

Life, Death, Evening

4

"Everybody gets a little dose of Shakespeare. He's the greatest playwright in the English language, but his politics are fairly square."

"Everybody gets a little dose of Shakespeare. He's the greatest playwright in the English language, but his politics are fairly square."

Alex Cox, British Director

Politics, English, Language, Shakespeare

4

"When actors are being defensive and defending their position, that is when you get less than good acting."

"When actors are being defensive and defending their position, that is when you get less than good acting."

John Boorman, British Director

Acting, Actors, Being

4

"A lot of directors don't know what they want to do. Every director I've seen that was a good director that I've admired knew exactly what he wanted to do. They didn't sit there and think about it."

"A lot of directors don't know what they want to do. Every director I've seen that was a good director that I've admired knew exactly what he wanted to do. They didn't sit there and think about it."

John Milius, American Director

4

"Maybe I have just a younger voice than many other directors."

"Maybe I have just a younger voice than many other directors."

Michael Bay, American Director

4

"The script will point you in certain directions and I go the opposite if I can. I try do do one thing and tell a different story with my eyes. I believe what's more interesting is always what's not being said."

"The script will point you in certain directions and I go the opposite if I can. I try do do one thing and tell a different story with my eyes. I believe what's more interesting is always what's not being said."

Robert Carlyle, Scottish Director

Being, Eyes, Will

4

"But Gladiator is one of my favourite adventures because I really loved going into the world. I loved creating the world to the degree where you could almost smell it."

"But Gladiator is one of my favourite adventures because I really loved going into the world. I loved creating the world to the degree where you could almost smell it."

Ridley Scott, British Director

4

"I did documentaries for maybe 10 years before I turned to fiction films."

"I did documentaries for maybe 10 years before I turned to fiction films."

Walter Salles, Brazilian Director

4

"The same characters that keep reappearing, bigger than life, find their own integrity in doing what they do the way they do it, even if it causes their own deaths."

"The same characters that keep reappearing, bigger than life, find their own integrity in doing what they do the way they do it, even if it causes their own deaths."

Robert Aldrich, American Director

Life, Causes, Integrity

4

"Everybody's a filmmaker today."

"Everybody's a filmmaker today."

John Milius, American Director

4

"My conception of it was that in a normal film you have a story with different movements that program, develop, go a little bit off the trunk, come back, and end."

"My conception of it was that in a normal film you have a story with different movements that program, develop, go a little bit off the trunk, come back, and end."

Neil Jordan, Irish Director

Story, End, Film

4

"The thing that I had saved up for myself and wanted most to bring off was a fully fledged professional production of Hamlet at the Royal Shakespeare Theater in Stratford."

"The thing that I had saved up for myself and wanted most to bring off was a fully fledged professional production of Hamlet at the Royal Shakespeare Theater in Stratford."

Trevor Nunn, English Director

Aspiration, Production, Shakespeare, Theater

4

"Today's cinema is a global art form, it is impossible to make movies for a market the size of France, representing no more than 4% of the world's total."

"Today's cinema is a global art form, it is impossible to make movies for a market the size of France, representing no more than 4% of the world's total."

Jean-Jacques Annaud, French Director

Art, Movies, Cinema, France

4

"In Australia, they set up a special fund to kick films off. It was quite an enlightened sort of move. You could go to this government bureau with scripts and and get finance for films."

"In Australia, they set up a special fund to kick films off. It was quite an enlightened sort of move. You could go to this government bureau with scripts and and get finance for films."

Bruce Beresford, Australian Director

Finance, Government

4

"Compassion is a two way street."

"Compassion is a two way street."

Frank Capra, American Director

4

"An audience is never wrong. An individual member of it may be an imbecile, but a thousand imbeciles together in the dark - that is critical genius."

"An audience is never wrong. An individual member of it may be an imbecile, but a thousand imbeciles together in the dark - that is critical genius."

Billy Wilder, American Director

Genius, May, Wrong

4

"Beauty is composed of an eternal, invariable element whose quantity is extremely difficult to determine, and a relative element which might be, either by turns or all at once, period, fashion, moral, passion."

"Beauty is composed of an eternal, invariable element whose quantity is extremely difficult to determine, and a relative element which might be, either by turns or all at once, period, fashion, moral, passion."

Jean-Luc Godard, French Director

Beauty, Fashion, Passion, Quantity

4

"I made over forty Westerns. I used to lie awake nights trying to think up new ways of getting on and off a horse."

"I made over forty Westerns. I used to lie awake nights trying to think up new ways of getting on and off a horse."

William Wyler, American Director

4

"Do you know what directors go through? It's just hell. Like, why do I work so hard - to think I'm only going to see this movie five times and then never see it again 'cause I'm so sick of it? What is it worth, honestly?"

"Do you know what directors go through? It's just hell. Like, why do I work so hard - to think I'm only going to see this movie five times and then never see it again 'cause I'm so sick of it? What is it worth, honestly?"

Michael Bay, American Director

Work, Hell, Worth

4

"Whatever the public blames you for, cultivate it; it is yourself."

"Whatever the public blames you for, cultivate it; it is yourself."

Jean Cocteau, French Director

4

"I try to get the best performance an actor can give."

"I try to get the best performance an actor can give."

Taylor Hackford, American Director

Performance, Actor

4

"What to do when inspiration doesn't come; be careful not to spook, get the wind up, force things into position. You must wait around until the idea comes."

"What to do when inspiration doesn't come; be careful not to spook, get the wind up, force things into position. You must wait around until the idea comes."

John Huston, American Director

Inspirational, Idea, Inspiration, Force, Wind

4

"My father's sister never married in order to raise me."

"My father's sister never married in order to raise me."

Marcel Carne, French Director

Family, Father, Sister, Order

4

"Their every instinct - and I have to say this is without exception - is to iron out the bumps, and It's always the bumps that are the most interesting stuff."

"Their every instinct - and I have to say this is without exception - is to iron out the bumps, and It's always the bumps that are the most interesting stuff."

Adrian Lyne, English Director

4

"We have to look forward and keep filming new films and not get stuck in the past."

"We have to look forward and keep filming new films and not get stuck in the past."

Nick Park, British Director

4

"I'm at Miramax now, where I've actually been treated like a Prince."

"I'm at Miramax now, where I've actually been treated like a Prince."

Ted Demme, American Director

4

"The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder."

"The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder."

Alfred Hitchcock, English Director

Media, Endurance, Film

4

"I'm getting a little bored by the juxtaposition of American and other cinema. I no longer think this division is as true as it might have been in the 1980s, or the early part of the 90s."

"I'm getting a little bored by the juxtaposition of American and other cinema. I no longer think this division is as true as it might have been in the 1980s, or the early part of the 90s."

Wim Wenders, German Director

Film, American, Cinema

4

"I do find myself at the moment, due to the success of School of Rock, to be on people's radar a little."

"I do find myself at the moment, due to the success of School of Rock, to be on people's radar a little."

Richard Linklater, American Director

Success, People, School

4

"I don't believe in the after life, although I am bringing a change of underwear."

"I don't believe in the after life, although I am bringing a change of underwear."

Woody Allen, American Director

4

"I got IRS records to finance what I wanted to do."

"I got IRS records to finance what I wanted to do."

Penelope Spheeris, American Director

4

bottom of page