Quotes by Director | Beyond Motive 53/67

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Quotes by Director

"I don't think you can ever be ahead of your time with cynicism about that subject. No, I don't think it was ahead of its time. I think it was very much a product of its time."

"I don't think you can ever be ahead of your time with cynicism about that subject. No, I don't think it was ahead of its time. I think it was very much a product of its time."

Joe Dante, American Director

30

"Well you're talking about a long career, a lot of movies, a lot of stars. I guess working with Henry Fonda and Katherine Hepburn was a great privilege."

"Well you're talking about a long career, a lot of movies, a lot of stars. I guess working with Henry Fonda and Katherine Hepburn was a great privilege."

Mark Rydell, American Director

Movies, Career, Privilege, Stars

30

"I got involved with an acting school and studied for a couple years. They used to have improv exercises that you would work on and you would do improvs."

"I got involved with an acting school and studied for a couple years. They used to have improv exercises that you would work on and you would do improvs."

Barry Levinson, American Director

Work, Acting, School, Years

30

"If you go on stage with the wrong attitude, or something in your performance is off, you can lose an audience in the first minute. That first minute is crucial."

"If you go on stage with the wrong attitude, or something in your performance is off, you can lose an audience in the first minute. That first minute is crucial."

Allan Carr, British Director

Attitude, Performance, First, Wrong

30

"I think a film should have a gestation period of at least two or three years."

"I think a film should have a gestation period of at least two or three years."

Roland Joffe, English Director

30

"Someone once told me that every minute a murder occurs, so I don't want to waste your time, I know you want to go back to work."

"Someone once told me that every minute a murder occurs, so I don't want to waste your time, I know you want to go back to work."

Alfred Hitchcock, English Director

Work, Time, Murder, Want

30

"I hope that not only my documentaries, but everybody's documentaries, last. It will really confuse historians in the next century, because they'll have, in addition to all the print material, they'll have all these pictures to look at."

"I hope that not only my documentaries, but everybody's documentaries, last. It will really confuse historians in the next century, because they'll have, in addition to all the print material, they'll have all these pictures to look at."

Frederick Wiseman, American Director

Hope, Historians, Will

30

"We're not as materialistic and income-tax conscious as we think. At the moment our superstitions are tucked away, but come out sometimes in strange ways sex crimes, black masses."

"We're not as materialistic and income-tax conscious as we think. At the moment our superstitions are tucked away, but come out sometimes in strange ways sex crimes, black masses."

Terence Fisher, British Director

30

"That's a little homage in a way to that and also to create that sort of creepy atmosphere that Hitchcock did. Vertigo was one of his great movies that was shot right here in The City and it's about a woman and the psychological twists and so forth."

"That's a little homage in a way to that and also to create that sort of creepy atmosphere that Hitchcock did. Vertigo was one of his great movies that was shot right here in The City and it's about a woman and the psychological twists and so forth."

Philip Kaufman, American Director

Movies, Right, Vertigo, Woman

30

"After all, crime is only a left-handed form of human endeavor."

"After all, crime is only a left-handed form of human endeavor."

John Huston, American Director

30

"I don't know if I'd want to do that anymore, because you always get bigger laughs on college campuses. So, when the film plays in front of a city audience, you've probably cut too loosely."

"I don't know if I'd want to do that anymore, because you always get bigger laughs on college campuses. So, when the film plays in front of a city audience, you've probably cut too loosely."

David Zucker, American Director

College, Film, Want

30

"Each kid has a different level of expertise and some of them are very raw and inexperienced and some are incredibly mature and experienced. So you just have to go with what they are rather than have some abstract technique that you're going to try to apply to them."

"Each kid has a different level of expertise and some of them are very raw and inexperienced and some are incredibly mature and experienced. So you just have to go with what they are rather than have some abstract technique that you're going to try to apply to them."

David Cronenberg, Canadian Director

Education, Expertise

30

"It was important on The Shipping News to have my house far enough away from each location so I had this time in the morning to think about my shots and still remain open to surprises once I got to the set."

"It was important on The Shipping News to have my house far enough away from each location so I had this time in the morning to think about my shots and still remain open to surprises once I got to the set."

Lasse Hallstrom, Swedish Director

Time, News, Open, Surprises

30

"In the Thirties, when I was in New York, I did the first surrealistic ballet in a show of mine."

"In the Thirties, when I was in New York, I did the first surrealistic ballet in a show of mine."

Vincente Minnelli, American Director

Art, Ballet, First

30

"Every milieu has something ridiculous about it - film-making, the music world, painting - because people who take themselves seriously become funny pretty quickly."

"Every milieu has something ridiculous about it - film-making, the music world, painting - because people who take themselves seriously become funny pretty quickly."

Rebecca Miller, American Director

Fun, Funny, Music, People, Film

30

"There is nothing quite so good as burial at sea. It is simple, tidy, and not very incriminating."

"There is nothing quite so good as burial at sea. It is simple, tidy, and not very incriminating."

Alfred Hitchcock, English Director

30

"It is fun to try figure out the things that really are real and the things that aren't."

"It is fun to try figure out the things that really are real and the things that aren't."

Penelope Spheeris, American Director

30

"I wanted to make an Indian character who wasn't either a) the savage that must be eliminated, the force of nature that's blocking the way for industrial progress, or b) the noble innocent that knows all and is another cliche. I wanted him to be a complicated human being."

"I wanted to make an Indian character who wasn't either a) the savage that must be eliminated, the force of nature that's blocking the way for industrial progress, or b) the noble innocent that knows all and is another cliche. I wanted him to be a complicated human being."

Jim Jarmusch, American Director

Nature, Progress, Character, Being

30

"I'd love to do acting, but it'd definitely have to be comedy. I can't do serious. It's completely beyond me."

"I'd love to do acting, but it'd definitely have to be comedy. I can't do serious. It's completely beyond me."

Allan Carr, British Director

Love, Acting, Comedy

30

"My movement from painting to film was a very conscious one."

"My movement from painting to film was a very conscious one."

Kathryn Bigelow, American Director

30

"The essence of the stage is concentration and penetration. Of the screen action, movement, sweep."

"The essence of the stage is concentration and penetration. Of the screen action, movement, sweep."

Elia Kazan, American Director

30

"There would always be a vote. There were always conflicts and arguments for years and years - that's why we're not together anymore. But there was always a vote. It was always two out of three."

"There would always be a vote. There were always conflicts and arguments for years and years - that's why we're not together anymore. But there was always a vote. It was always two out of three."

David Zucker, American Director

Movies, Arguments, Vote, Years

30

"But it's just that the whole country is making generally lousy films these days and has been for quite a while. That's the big problem that we all have to think about."

"But it's just that the whole country is making generally lousy films these days and has been for quite a while. That's the big problem that we all have to think about."

Alexander Payne, American Director

Nation, Country

30

"Violent behavior exists in one's psychological makeup much deeper than the level that receives information from television or movies."

"Violent behavior exists in one's psychological makeup much deeper than the level that receives information from television or movies."

Richard King, American Director

Movies, Behavior, Information, Makeup

30

"I interviewed survivors, I went to Poland, saw the cities and spent time with the people and spoke to the Jews who had come back to Poland after the war and talked about why they had come back."

"I interviewed survivors, I went to Poland, saw the cities and spent time with the people and spoke to the Jews who had come back to Poland after the war and talked about why they had come back."

Steven Spielberg, American Director

Time, War, People, Cities

30

"I always try to preserve my cinematographic style, even while I work in the US. I wish to always be European."

"I always try to preserve my cinematographic style, even while I work in the US. I wish to always be European."

Lasse Hallstrom, Swedish Director

30

"When you're doing a big movie, you're gone for 10 months to a year."

"When you're doing a big movie, you're gone for 10 months to a year."

Ridley Scott, British Director

30

"When I made my first film, I didn't think of it as directing, so it wasn't like I set out to become a director."

"When I made my first film, I didn't think of it as directing, so it wasn't like I set out to become a director."

Kathryn Bigelow, American Director

30

"The one thing about program television that's absolutely incompatible with any concept of art is that all decisions have to be made by program directors, whereas art is autonomous. It may be dependent, but it knows no superiors."

"The one thing about program television that's absolutely incompatible with any concept of art is that all decisions have to be made by program directors, whereas art is autonomous. It may be dependent, but it knows no superiors."

Alexander Kluge, German Director

Art, Decisions, May, Television

30

"Animators have to live life 24 times as long as we do - every 24 frames of a second."

"Animators have to live life 24 times as long as we do - every 24 frames of a second."

Darren Aronofsky, American Director

30

"I didn't grow up thinking of movies as film, or art, but as movies, something to do on a Saturday afternoon."

"I didn't grow up thinking of movies as film, or art, but as movies, something to do on a Saturday afternoon."

Sydney Pollack, American Director

Movies, Art, Film, Thinking

30

"I'm not pessimistic about people in general, but only about the way they live."

"I'm not pessimistic about people in general, but only about the way they live."

Claude Chabrol, French Director

30

"On the contrary a film can promote the idea of change without any political message whatsoever but in its form and language can tell people that they can change their lives and contribute to progressive changes in the world."

"On the contrary a film can promote the idea of change without any political message whatsoever but in its form and language can tell people that they can change their lives and contribute to progressive changes in the world."

Wim Wenders, German Director

Change, People, Idea, Film

30

"I think there should be collaboration, but under my thumb."

"I think there should be collaboration, but under my thumb."

Elia Kazan, American Director

Leadership, Collaboration

30

"I was inspired to do anything I could to get out of what I was doing... today, I'm motivated to pay the bills."

"I was inspired to do anything I could to get out of what I was doing... today, I'm motivated to pay the bills."

Terry Zwigoff, American Director

30

"You're doing it to make the character as specific as possible, so that it's a specific individual that you're talking about, not that whole class of people."

"You're doing it to make the character as specific as possible, so that it's a specific individual that you're talking about, not that whole class of people."

Joel Coen, American Director

People, Character, Class, Talking

30

"Don't make jokes about food."

"Don't make jokes about food."

David Lean, British Director

30

"There is such amazing talent at Disney. My job is 100% creative, and I am very excited to creatively lead them."

"There is such amazing talent at Disney. My job is 100% creative, and I am very excited to creatively lead them."

John Lasseter, American Director

Talent, Disney, Job

30

"I like making movies."

"I like making movies."

Antoine Fuqua, American Director

30

"Before she married my father, my mother was a film reviewer for The Akron Beacon Journal - a small newspaper."

"Before she married my father, my mother was a film reviewer for The Akron Beacon Journal - a small newspaper."

Jim Jarmusch, American Director

Family, Mother, Father, Film

30

"Sometimes a piece of music in the score isn't effective. When a score is too well finished with too many elements, sometimes it's too much."

"Sometimes a piece of music in the score isn't effective. When a score is too well finished with too many elements, sometimes it's too much."

Alejandro Amenabar, Spanish Director

30

"I went to Montreal. My first gig went very badly. They just weren't laughing at anything. I found out they were a load of Christians, and it was a gig to raise money for a new church roof."

"I went to Montreal. My first gig went very badly. They just weren't laughing at anything. I found out they were a load of Christians, and it was a gig to raise money for a new church roof."

Allan Carr, British Director

Money, Church, First

30

"Life doesn't imitate art, it imitates bad television."

"Life doesn't imitate art, it imitates bad television."

Woody Allen, American Director

Life, Art, Television

30

"First I went to the Sorbonne to do my licence en lettres, but I also started to study law."

"First I went to the Sorbonne to do my licence en lettres, but I also started to study law."

Claude Chabrol, French Director

Education, First, Law, Study

30

"The stories from 1975 on are not finished and there is no resolve. I could spend 50 hours on the last 25 years of jazz and still not do it justice."

"The stories from 1975 on are not finished and there is no resolve. I could spend 50 hours on the last 25 years of jazz and still not do it justice."

Ken Burns, American Director

Lifestyle, Jazz, Justice, Years

30

"My personal view is that such total planning by the state is an absolute good and not simply a relative good... I do not myself think of the attitude I take as deriving from Marx - though this undoubtedly will be suggested - but from Fichte and Hegel."

"My personal view is that such total planning by the state is an absolute good and not simply a relative good... I do not myself think of the attitude I take as deriving from Marx - though this undoubtedly will be suggested - but from Fichte and Hegel."

John Grierson, British Director

Attitude, Planning, State, Will

30

"To deny women directors, as I suspect is happening in the States, is to deny the feminine vision."

"To deny women directors, as I suspect is happening in the States, is to deny the feminine vision."

Jane Campion, New Zealander Director

Woman, Women, Vision, States, Newzealander

30

"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

30

"You can learn as much about the history from reading about the present as you can vice versa, that is learning about the present through history, which is what I do for a living."

"You can learn as much about the history from reading about the present as you can vice versa, that is learning about the present through history, which is what I do for a living."

Ken Burns, American Director

History, Learning, Living, Present

30

"I do like directing other people's material."

"I do like directing other people's material."

Brian De Palma, American Director

30

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