Quotes by Director | Beyond Motive 31/66

top of page

Quotes by Director

"The question in their minds was, why did the outside world, and particularly the Western world, produce all these landmines, and send them to Afghanistan? This business must be stopped. It's a dirty business to produce such a horrible device."

"The question in their minds was, why did the outside world, and particularly the Western world, produce all these landmines, and send them to Afghanistan? This business must be stopped. It's a dirty business to produce such a horrible device."

Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iranian Director

Business, Afghanistan, Question, World

4

"I lost a year or two in there, trying to get films financed that I didn't know would never get financing."

"I lost a year or two in there, trying to get films financed that I didn't know would never get financing."

Richard Linklater, American Director

4

"I'm less comfortable making American movies because I don't know them so well."

"I'm less comfortable making American movies because I don't know them so well."

Neil Jordan, Irish Director

Movies, American

4

"Good luck has its storms."

"Good luck has its storms."

George Lucas, American Director

4

"You're not a historian, but most historians will tell you that they make very discrete judgment as to what facts to omit in order to make their book into some shape, some length that can be managed."

"You're not a historian, but most historians will tell you that they make very discrete judgment as to what facts to omit in order to make their book into some shape, some length that can be managed."

Oliver Stone, American Director

Fact, Facts, Historians, Judgment, Order

4

"Agents are still asking for millions of dollars for actors that don't sell one ticket."

"Agents are still asking for millions of dollars for actors that don't sell one ticket."

Uwe Boll, German Director

4

"I'm certainly getting a lot more mail... that's basically it."

"I'm certainly getting a lot more mail... that's basically it."

Sam Mendes, British Director

4

"You know, I listen to contemporary music all the time."

"You know, I listen to contemporary music all the time."

Brian De Palma, American Director

4

"One of the characteristics of the dream is that nothing surprises us in it. With no regret, we agree to live in it with strangers, completely cut off from our habits and friends."

"One of the characteristics of the dream is that nothing surprises us in it. With no regret, we agree to live in it with strangers, completely cut off from our habits and friends."

Jean Cocteau, French Director

Friendship, Dream, Friends, Habits, Nothing

4

"I wanted to make a movie about the arbitrary nature of love."

"I wanted to make a movie about the arbitrary nature of love."

Adrian Lyne, English Director

4

"I wanted to make connections between Whale's past and present."

"I wanted to make connections between Whale's past and present."

Bill Condon, American Director

4

"I'm such a good lover because I practice a lot on my own."

"I'm such a good lover because I practice a lot on my own."

Woody Allen, American Director

4

"There's not really much destruction in New York besides the weather and it's a natural force so it's not like any destruction. But LA gets leveled (laughs). That's my comment to Hollywood."

"There's not really much destruction in New York besides the weather and it's a natural force so it's not like any destruction. But LA gets leveled (laughs). That's my comment to Hollywood."

Roland Emmerich, German Director

Destruction, Force, Hollywood, Weather

4

"It's like everybody is obsessed with Hollywood movies worldwide. And even though everybody hates the Americans, they're still watching American movies."

"It's like everybody is obsessed with Hollywood movies worldwide. And even though everybody hates the Americans, they're still watching American movies."

Roland Emmerich, German Director

Movies, American, Americans, Hollywood

4

"The great difference between screen acting and theatre acting is that screen acting is about reacting - 75% of the time, great screen actors are great reactors."

"The great difference between screen acting and theatre acting is that screen acting is about reacting - 75% of the time, great screen actors are great reactors."

Nicolas Roeg, English Director

Time, Acting, Actors, Difference

4

"That's easy to answer: I never had any special appetite for filmmaking, but you have to make a living and it is miraculous to earn a living working in film."

"That's easy to answer: I never had any special appetite for filmmaking, but you have to make a living and it is miraculous to earn a living working in film."

Alain Resnais, French Director

Creativity, Appetite, Film, Living

4

"I was always fascinated by engineering. Maybe it was an attempt maybe to get my father's respect or interest, or maybe it was just a genetic love of technology, but I was always trying to build things."

"I was always fascinated by engineering. Maybe it was an attempt maybe to get my father's respect or interest, or maybe it was just a genetic love of technology, but I was always trying to build things."

James Cameron, American Director

Love, Technology, Father, Engineering

4

"I've always been most interested in the politics of everyday life: your relation to whatever you're doing, or what your ambitions are, where you live, where you find yourself in the social hierarchy."

"I've always been most interested in the politics of everyday life: your relation to whatever you're doing, or what your ambitions are, where you live, where you find yourself in the social hierarchy."

Richard Linklater, American Director

4

"The decline of the aperitif may well be one of the most depressing phenomena of our time."

"The decline of the aperitif may well be one of the most depressing phenomena of our time."

Luis Bunuel, Mexican Director

4

"It's a very good time for horror. This business certainly has changed, but there's still room for serious horror films. Look at 28 Days Later, that's not a tongue-in-cheek picture."

"It's a very good time for horror. This business certainly has changed, but there's still room for serious horror films. Look at 28 Days Later, that's not a tongue-in-cheek picture."

John Carpenter, American Director

Business, Time, Horror, Tongue

4

"I don't have any illusion that The Creeper is as popular or will ever be as popular as any of the classic movie monsters, but I think in the heart of every young horror fan is his desire to create his own creature."

"I don't have any illusion that The Creeper is as popular or will ever be as popular as any of the classic movie monsters, but I think in the heart of every young horror fan is his desire to create his own creature."

Victor Salva, American Director

Heart, Desire, Horror, Illusion

4

"Film is shot in fragments, and the same moments can be shot again and again until the director is satisfied."

"Film is shot in fragments, and the same moments can be shot again and again until the director is satisfied."

Bruce Beresford, Australian Director

4

"You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that make you want to live to be a hundred."

"You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that make you want to live to be a hundred."

Woody Allen, American Director

4

"There's an 800 kilometer border between Iran and Afghanistan."

"There's an 800 kilometer border between Iran and Afghanistan."

Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iranian Director

4

"Whatever has happened in my quest for innovation has been part of my quest for immaculate reality."

"Whatever has happened in my quest for innovation has been part of my quest for immaculate reality."

George Lucas, American Director

Innovation, Quest, Reality

4

"I deliberately, in a way, went for something that was a huge challenge and was a big period film. I was excited about the canvas on which I could tell the story as much as the story itself."

"I deliberately, in a way, went for something that was a huge challenge and was a big period film. I was excited about the canvas on which I could tell the story as much as the story itself."

Sam Mendes, British Director

Challenge, Film

4

"Our fathers were actually business partners in the same real-estate firm, and we got together and thought, How can we get a movie together and get distribution and create a new movie genre? We started by making satires of commercials."

"Our fathers were actually business partners in the same real-estate firm, and we got together and thought, How can we get a movie together and get distribution and create a new movie genre? We started by making satires of commercials."

David Zucker, American Director

Business, Thought, Fathers

4

"One could make money and get a career going with a low-budget horror film about killers attacking on holidays. It is always flattering to have somebody copy you."

"One could make money and get a career going with a low-budget horror film about killers attacking on holidays. It is always flattering to have somebody copy you."

John Carpenter, American Director

Money, Career, Film, Holidays

4

"Too many girls follow the line of least resistance but a good line is hard to resist."

"Too many girls follow the line of least resistance but a good line is hard to resist."

Raoul Walsh, American Director

4

"I love involving actors at all levels - and they have to know that I want to hear their contributions, with dialogue, with story suggestions, with script changes, whatever."

"I love involving actors at all levels - and they have to know that I want to hear their contributions, with dialogue, with story suggestions, with script changes, whatever."

Lasse Hallstrom, Swedish Director

Love, Actors, Want

4

"Fourth Law of Thermodynamics: If the probability of success is not almost one, then it is damn near zero."

"Fourth Law of Thermodynamics: If the probability of success is not almost one, then it is damn near zero."

David R. Ellis, American Director

4

"There are too many souls of wood not to love those wooden characters who do indeed have a soul."

"There are too many souls of wood not to love those wooden characters who do indeed have a soul."

Jean Cocteau, French Director

Love, Soul, Wood

4

"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

4

"Most poets in their youth begin in adolescent sadness. I find it more rewarding to end in gladness."

"Most poets in their youth begin in adolescent sadness. I find it more rewarding to end in gladness."

James Broughton, American Director

Violence, End, Poets, Sadness, Youth

4

"Every actor I think has got their own number of takes that they like, you know. Some actors like to go all day, you know on the one scene and some actors want to take two takes. I personally like four."

"Every actor I think has got their own number of takes that they like, you know. Some actors like to go all day, you know on the one scene and some actors want to take two takes. I personally like four."

Robert Carlyle, Scottish Director

Actor, Actors, Day, Want

4

"I watched Someone to Watch Over Me the other night. I thought it was a really good movie. It's a great movie."

"I watched Someone to Watch Over Me the other night. I thought it was a really good movie. It's a great movie."

Ridley Scott, British Director

4

"So I am getting a little bored with defining one type of film as American and the other European or from somewhere else because the division is no longer true."

"So I am getting a little bored with defining one type of film as American and the other European or from somewhere else because the division is no longer true."

Wim Wenders, German Director

Nationality, American, Film

4

"I think there's only one or two films where I've had all the financial support I needed. All the rest, I wish I'd had the money to shoot another ten days."

"I think there's only one or two films where I've had all the financial support I needed. All the rest, I wish I'd had the money to shoot another ten days."

Martin Scorsese, American Director

Money, Financial, Rest, Support

4

"I have a perfect cure for a sore throat: cut it."

"I have a perfect cure for a sore throat: cut it."

Alfred Hitchcock, English Director

4

"And when you see it the first time you put the film together, the roughest cut, is when you want to go home and open up your veins and get in a warm tub and just go away. And then it gradually, maybe, works its way back, somewhere toward that spot you were at before."

"And when you see it the first time you put the film together, the roughest cut, is when you want to go home and open up your veins and get in a warm tub and just go away. And then it gradually, maybe, works its way back, somewhere toward that spot you were at before."

Joel Coen, American Director

Home, Time, Film, First

3

"Yeah, I had an idea to make a very scary movie, based on a kind of serial murderer that preys on tourists."

"Yeah, I had an idea to make a very scary movie, based on a kind of serial murderer that preys on tourists."

Brian De Palma, American Director

Creativity, Idea, Tourists

3

"You know how you smoke out a sniper? You send a guy out in the open, and you see if he gets shot. They thought that one up at West Point."

"You know how you smoke out a sniper? You send a guy out in the open, and you see if he gets shot. They thought that one up at West Point."

Samuel Fuller, American Director

3

"The truth is, I'm drawn to all kinds of things."

"The truth is, I'm drawn to all kinds of things."

Philip Kaufman, American Director

3

"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

3

"We should all have the opportunity to express what we want to express."

"We should all have the opportunity to express what we want to express."

Richard King, American Director

Opportunity, Want

3

"Kinsey thought that Freud in his own way was as dangerous as the Catholic Church."

"Kinsey thought that Freud in his own way was as dangerous as the Catholic Church."

Bill Condon, American Director

Thought, Church

3

"I draw what I feel, which is no more than doing my job."

"I draw what I feel, which is no more than doing my job."

Ralph Bakshi, American Director

3

"People dance and we have a lot of music and... this might be the closet I get for a while."

"People dance and we have a lot of music and... this might be the closet I get for a while."

Cameron Crowe, American Director

Music, People, Dance

3

"I was very disappointed that Denzel didn't win Best Actor for The Hurricane because I thought he deserved it."

"I was very disappointed that Denzel didn't win Best Actor for The Hurricane because I thought he deserved it."

Norman Jewison, Canadian Director

3

"More people are exposed to movies than to most other forms of art."

"More people are exposed to movies than to most other forms of art."

Richard King, American Director

Art, Movies, People

3

bottom of page