Quotes by Director | Beyond Motive 25/67

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Quotes by Director

"France is a place where the money falls apart in your hands but you can't tear the toilet paper."

"France is a place where the money falls apart in your hands but you can't tear the toilet paper."

Billy Wilder, American Director

14

"I was always attracted by the European way of life, but I am deeply Swedish."

"I was always attracted by the European way of life, but I am deeply Swedish."

Lasse Hallstrom, Swedish Director

14

"I felt that as long as we were being honest, and that we didn't bend the truth to accomplish another goal, to be entertaining or to be a happy ending, I was confident that we'd be able to tell the story the way it happened."

"I felt that as long as we were being honest, and that we didn't bend the truth to accomplish another goal, to be entertaining or to be a happy ending, I was confident that we'd be able to tell the story the way it happened."

Ted Demme, American Director

Truth, Goal, Being, Ending

14

"There's an old joke - um... two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of 'em says, "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know; and such small portions." Well, that's essentially how I feel about life - full of loneliness, and misery, and suffering, and unhappiness, and it's all over much too quickly."

"There's an old joke - um... two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of 'em says, "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know; and such small portions." Well, that's essentially how I feel about life - full of loneliness, and misery, and suffering, and unhappiness, and it's all over much too quickly."

Woody Allen, American Director

Philosophy, Loneliness, Suffering, Misery, Happiness

14

"Why if I had half a chance, I could make an entire movie using this stock footage. The story opens on these mysterious explosions. Nobody knows what's causing them, but it's upsetting all the buffalo. So, the military are called in to solve the mystery."

"Why if I had half a chance, I could make an entire movie using this stock footage. The story opens on these mysterious explosions. Nobody knows what's causing them, but it's upsetting all the buffalo. So, the military are called in to solve the mystery."

Ed Wood, American Director

Chance, Military, Mystery

14

"I think what makes a good action film is a story that gets you involved. Just action, by itself, is not going to work."

"I think what makes a good action film is a story that gets you involved. Just action, by itself, is not going to work."

Jan de Bont, Dutch Director

Work, Action, Film

14

"You sit at the board and suddenly your heart leaps. Your hand trembles to pick up the piece and move it. But what chess teaches you is that you must sit there calmly and think about whether it's really a good idea and whether there are other, better ideas."

"You sit at the board and suddenly your heart leaps. Your hand trembles to pick up the piece and move it. But what chess teaches you is that you must sit there calmly and think about whether it's really a good idea and whether there are other, better ideas."

Stanley Kubrick, American Director

Heart, Idea, Ideas, Chess

13

"Most Italians who came to this country are very patriotic. There was this exciting possibility that if you worked real hard, and you loved something, you could become successful."

"Most Italians who came to this country are very patriotic. There was this exciting possibility that if you worked real hard, and you loved something, you could become successful."

Francis Ford Coppola, American Director

Success, Successful, Possibility, Country

13

"I've always liked the minds of criminals, they seem similar to artists."

"I've always liked the minds of criminals, they seem similar to artists."

Richard Linklater, American Director

Psychology, Artists

13

"The only lesson to extract from any civil war is that it's pointless and futile and ugly, and that there is nothing glamorous or heroic about it. There are heroes, but the causes are never heroic."

"The only lesson to extract from any civil war is that it's pointless and futile and ugly, and that there is nothing glamorous or heroic about it. There are heroes, but the causes are never heroic."

Anthony Minghella, British Director

War, Causes, Heroes, Nothing

13

"When men have money and power they get turned on, sexually. They get horny as hell. Can't imagine why, though."

"When men have money and power they get turned on, sexually. They get horny as hell. Can't imagine why, though."

Penelope Spheeris, American Director

Man, Men, Money, Power, Hell

13

"There's a consistency in my work that pops up independent of the limitations of the technology."

"There's a consistency in my work that pops up independent of the limitations of the technology."

Douglas Trumbull, American Director

Technology, Work, Consistency, Limitations

13

"In next five to 10 years I probably would have done my best work, but I was afraid of having another 10 or 15 years ahead of me and feeling stale, so this was an opportunity to reinvigorate myself."

"In next five to 10 years I probably would have done my best work, but I was afraid of having another 10 or 15 years ahead of me and feeling stale, so this was an opportunity to reinvigorate myself."

Michael Ritchie, American Director

Work, Opportunity, Feeling, Years

13

"These happy endings all express the weak and sly promise that the world is not rotten and out of joint but meaningful and ultimately in excellent condition."

"These happy endings all express the weak and sly promise that the world is not rotten and out of joint but meaningful and ultimately in excellent condition."

Douglas Sirk, German Director

Optimism, Promise, World

13

"There was a widespread indignation in the American media. They were saying, 'How can you make a movie during an election that's about politics? What are you doing? Are you trying to influence people's lives?' To which my response was, 'Well, I hope so.'"

"There was a widespread indignation in the American media. They were saying, 'How can you make a movie during an election that's about politics? What are you doing? Are you trying to influence people's lives?' To which my response was, 'Well, I hope so.'"

John Sayles, American Director

Politics, People, Hope

13

"I believe in justice, maybe not in this life, but there has to be justice. And if there isn't a God, I think it would be very depressing. I'd prefer to believe there is."

"I believe in justice, maybe not in this life, but there has to be justice. And if there isn't a God, I think it would be very depressing. I'd prefer to believe there is."

David Zucker, American Director

God, Life, Justice

13

"I aspire to eventually be making my living by making movies."

"I aspire to eventually be making my living by making movies."

Richard King, American Director

13

"It seems to me that any sensible person must see that violence does not change the world and if it does, then only temporarily."

"It seems to me that any sensible person must see that violence does not change the world and if it does, then only temporarily."

Martin Scorsese, American Director

Change, Violence, World

13

"If anything, if you can get somebody interested in something and get them excited, that's great. You should be praised for having opened the debate and having asked the right questions."

"If anything, if you can get somebody interested in something and get them excited, that's great. You should be praised for having opened the debate and having asked the right questions."

Oliver Stone, American Director

Debate, Questions, Right

13

"As filmmakers, we can show where a person's mind goes, as opposed to theater, which is more to sit back and watch it."

"As filmmakers, we can show where a person's mind goes, as opposed to theater, which is more to sit back and watch it."

Darren Aronofsky, American Director

13

"I do a pretty good job at casting actually."

"I do a pretty good job at casting actually."

Ridley Scott, British Director

13

"We wouldn't have done it if we didn't think we could have fun with it."

"We wouldn't have done it if we didn't think we could have fun with it."

Ethan Coen, American Director

13

"I always start with characters rather than with a plot, which many critics would say is very obvious from the lack of plot in my films - although I think they do have plots - but the plot is not of primary importance to me, the characters are."

"I always start with characters rather than with a plot, which many critics would say is very obvious from the lack of plot in my films - although I think they do have plots - but the plot is not of primary importance to me, the characters are."

Jim Jarmusch, American Director

Importance, Obvious

13

"I thought Star Wars was too wacky for the general public."

"I thought Star Wars was too wacky for the general public."

George Lucas, American Director

Thought, Public

13

"He has Van Gogh's ear for music."

"He has Van Gogh's ear for music."

Billy Wilder, American Director

13

"Some of us learned in a school of philosophy which taught that all was for the common good and nothing for oneself and have never, in any case, regarded the pursuit of happiness as anything other than an aberration of the human spirit."

"Some of us learned in a school of philosophy which taught that all was for the common good and nothing for oneself and have never, in any case, regarded the pursuit of happiness as anything other than an aberration of the human spirit."

John Grierson, British Director

Happiness, Nothing, Philosophy, Pursuit

13

"For years, I've been wondering what could happen to nuclear submarines when they dive and disappear from the surface of the earth for months, without a trace. No one really knows where they are."

"For years, I've been wondering what could happen to nuclear submarines when they dive and disappear from the surface of the earth for months, without a trace. No one really knows where they are."

Guy Hamilton, British Director

Earth, Months, Years

13

"I love mirrors. They let one pass through the surface of things."

"I love mirrors. They let one pass through the surface of things."

Claude Chabrol, French Director

13

"Years ago I had a house in Sussex, it was like Arcadia, with an old Victorian bridge, a pond and the Downs."

"Years ago I had a house in Sussex, it was like Arcadia, with an old Victorian bridge, a pond and the Downs."

Nicolas Roeg, English Director

13

"It's very eclectic, the way one chooses subjects in the movie business, especially in the commercial movie business. You need to develop material yourself or material is presented to you as an assignment to direct."

"It's very eclectic, the way one chooses subjects in the movie business, especially in the commercial movie business. You need to develop material yourself or material is presented to you as an assignment to direct."

John Frankenheimer, American Director

13

"Luck is everything... My good luck in life was to be a really frightened person. I'm fortunate to be a coward, to have a low threshold of fear, because a hero couldn't make a good suspense film."

"Luck is everything... My good luck in life was to be a really frightened person. I'm fortunate to be a coward, to have a low threshold of fear, because a hero couldn't make a good suspense film."

Alfred Hitchcock, English Director

Life, Fear, Film, Luck

13

"Anybody who comes to the cinema is bringing they're whole sexual history, their literary history, their movie literacy, their culture, their language, their religion, whatever they've got. I can't possibly manipulate all of that, nor do I want to."

"Anybody who comes to the cinema is bringing they're whole sexual history, their literary history, their movie literacy, their culture, their language, their religion, whatever they've got. I can't possibly manipulate all of that, nor do I want to."

David Cronenberg, Canadian Director

History, Religion, Cinema, Culture

13

"Interview with a Vampire was lots of sex, so I'm not sure."

"Interview with a Vampire was lots of sex, so I'm not sure."

Uwe Boll, German Director

13

"Are you in my dream too?"

"Are you in my dream too?"

M. Night Shyamalan, American Director

13

"Traffic is about drugs. As detailed a portrait as I can muster about what is happening in the drug world, from top to bottom, from policy to how things move on the street."

"Traffic is about drugs. As detailed a portrait as I can muster about what is happening in the drug world, from top to bottom, from policy to how things move on the street."

Steven Soderbergh, American Director

Policy, Drugs, World

13

"I value peace when it is not bought at the price of fundamental decencies."

"I value peace when it is not bought at the price of fundamental decencies."

Elia Kazan, American Director

13

"I think it's fair to say I've always been a boxing fan."

"I think it's fair to say I've always been a boxing fan."

Walter Hill, American Director

13

"I'm not politically motivated. I used to be - passionately. I used to be very Left wing. Then I went very Right wing, and now I rest somewhere in the middle."

"I'm not politically motivated. I used to be - passionately. I used to be very Left wing. Then I went very Right wing, and now I rest somewhere in the middle."

Guy Ritchie, British Director

Now, Rest, Right

13

"The genius of our country is improvisation, and jazz reflects that. It's our great contribution to the arts."

"The genius of our country is improvisation, and jazz reflects that. It's our great contribution to the arts."

Ken Burns, American Director

Genius, Country, Jazz

13

"The hardest part of directing is the choosing. Unlike an actor who can do a variety of work, it is a year of your life, you can't afford to get it wrong."

"The hardest part of directing is the choosing. Unlike an actor who can do a variety of work, it is a year of your life, you can't afford to get it wrong."

Tom Hooper, British Director

Life, Work, Actor, Variety

13

"I'm a fan of music from all over the world."

"I'm a fan of music from all over the world."

Michael Winterbottom, British Director

13

"Do what you haven't done is the key, I think."

"Do what you haven't done is the key, I think."

Ridley Scott, British Director

13

"One of the other things I think that I've been able to do in my life, is to listen well."

"One of the other things I think that I've been able to do in my life, is to listen well."

John Frankenheimer, American Director

13

"It's an entire industry focusing on young male viewers that want action and violence. They sell us something that isn't valid. They're selling films like a product."

"It's an entire industry focusing on young male viewers that want action and violence. They sell us something that isn't valid. They're selling films like a product."

Norman Jewison, Canadian Director

Action, Selling, Violence, Want

13

"But compared to writing a novel, where you can be God, I did the Bay of Pigs invasion in six pages once, and there were 50,000 guys with boots that I didn't have to pay, and all those extras; we didn't have to pay them."

"But compared to writing a novel, where you can be God, I did the Bay of Pigs invasion in six pages once, and there were 50,000 guys with boots that I didn't have to pay, and all those extras; we didn't have to pay them."

John Sayles, American Director

13

"It is only when I am doing my work that I feel truly alive."

"It is only when I am doing my work that I feel truly alive."

Federico Fellini, Italian Director

13

"Rarest of the real poets are born poets. They are the oddballs, not the professors."

"Rarest of the real poets are born poets. They are the oddballs, not the professors."

James Broughton, American Director

13

"Whereas my producer literally worked on this thing for 10 years and because I gave that presenter credit to David Lynch, she to this day never gets credit. It really kills me."

"Whereas my producer literally worked on this thing for 10 years and because I gave that presenter credit to David Lynch, she to this day never gets credit. It really kills me."

Terry Zwigoff, American Director

Movies, Credit, Day, Years

13

"I had been a kid that moved so much, I didn't have a lot of friends. Theater really represented camaraderie."

"I had been a kid that moved so much, I didn't have a lot of friends. Theater really represented camaraderie."

Francis Ford Coppola, American Director

Friendship, Friends, Theater

13

"I've dropped myself into straightforward character pieces in order to explore that form and reap its values. But you are sort of restricted visually when your first requirement is to tell a fairly straightforward story."

"I've dropped myself into straightforward character pieces in order to explore that form and reap its values. But you are sort of restricted visually when your first requirement is to tell a fairly straightforward story."

Brian De Palma, American Director

Character, Values, First, Order

13

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