Quotes by Director | Beyond Motive 56/67

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Quotes by Director

"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

29

"I only work with actors who take full responsibility for their characters."

"I only work with actors who take full responsibility for their characters."

Jonathan Demme, American Director

Work, Actors, Responsibility

29

"Making the City Of Joy gave me the best political education of my life. It became a wrestling match between an Englishman who had gradually ceased to be a Marxist, and a culture that was becoming more Marxist by the day."

"Making the City Of Joy gave me the best political education of my life. It became a wrestling match between an Englishman who had gradually ceased to be a Marxist, and a culture that was becoming more Marxist by the day."

Roland Joffe, English Director

Education, Life, Culture, Day

29

"We just said, 'Okay, you're in the movie. Bring what you would bring for a three-day weekend and I hope you like the way you look in it because once you're on camera, that's your wardrobe.' But it worked; it worked and we were very surprised."

"We just said, 'Okay, you're in the movie. Bring what you would bring for a three-day weekend and I hope you like the way you look in it because once you're on camera, that's your wardrobe.' But it worked; it worked and we were very surprised."

John Sayles, American Director

29

"We don't ever want IT to be the thing that holds GM back."

"We don't ever want IT to be the thing that holds GM back."

Tony Scott, British Director

29

"In a kind of a way there's a bit of that happening now so we have to be careful to preserve our culture."

"In a kind of a way there's a bit of that happening now so we have to be careful to preserve our culture."

Yahoo Serious, Australian Director

Cultural, Culture, Now

29

"Such manifestations I account as representing the creative leadership of the new forces of thought and appreciation which attend changes in technological pattern and therefore of the pattern of human relationships in society."

"Such manifestations I account as representing the creative leadership of the new forces of thought and appreciation which attend changes in technological pattern and therefore of the pattern of human relationships in society."

John Grierson, British Director

Leadership, Society, Thought, Appreciation

29

"The interesting thing about movies, it's not always - y'know, you have to have structure etc and all those things, but an audience responds, in many ways, we walk away and certain things stay in our heads that are memorable."

"The interesting thing about movies, it's not always - y'know, you have to have structure etc and all those things, but an audience responds, in many ways, we walk away and certain things stay in our heads that are memorable."

Barry Levinson, American Director

29

"Why is it better to love than to be loved? It is surer."

"Why is it better to love than to be loved? It is surer."

Sacha Guitry, French Director

29

"But I think that the spirit of protectionism would be the grave of European cinema. You cannot protect something by building a fence around it and thinking that this will help it survive."

"But I think that the spirit of protectionism would be the grave of European cinema. You cannot protect something by building a fence around it and thinking that this will help it survive."

Wim Wenders, German Director

Building, Cinema, Grave, Help

29

"The movie business is very much like that: people in authority making purely emotional decisions instead of interesting rational ones."

"The movie business is very much like that: people in authority making purely emotional decisions instead of interesting rational ones."

Bill Forsyth, Scottish Director

Business, People, Authority, Decisions

29

"I've always done 20 things at once. It's my way of staying alive, not to keep one dish cooking, but several dishes going. And I'm pretty organized."

"I've always done 20 things at once. It's my way of staying alive, not to keep one dish cooking, but several dishes going. And I'm pretty organized."

Patrice Leconte, French Director

Multitasking, Cooking, Pretty

29

"Model. Two mobile eyes in a mobile head, itself on a mobile body."

"Model. Two mobile eyes in a mobile head, itself on a mobile body."

Robert Bresson, French Director

29

"I never wanted to dilute my private passion for the art by airing and arguing it in public."

"I never wanted to dilute my private passion for the art by airing and arguing it in public."

James Broughton, American Director

Art, Passion, Public

29

"The most astonishing joy is to receive from the muses the gift of a whole lyric."

"The most astonishing joy is to receive from the muses the gift of a whole lyric."

James Broughton, American Director

29

"Good history is a question of survival. Without any past, we will deprive ourselves of the defining impression of our being."

"Good history is a question of survival. Without any past, we will deprive ourselves of the defining impression of our being."

Ken Burns, American Director

History, Impression, Survival, Being

29

"I never storyboard. I hate it. I don't understand why so many directors want to make comic strips of their films."

"I never storyboard. I hate it. I don't understand why so many directors want to make comic strips of their films."

Patrice Leconte, French Director

29

"The challenge is what was making it exciting. You don't want to do anything that's too easy or that you know that you can pull off, otherwise it's really not worth doing."

"The challenge is what was making it exciting. You don't want to do anything that's too easy or that you know that you can pull off, otherwise it's really not worth doing."

Robert Rodriguez, American Director

Challenge, Want, Worth

29

"I try not to have favorites, but Barfly is one that I like. My favorite is always the one I just finished."

"I try not to have favorites, but Barfly is one that I like. My favorite is always the one I just finished."

Barbet Schroeder, French Director

29

"I tried to stir the imagination and enthusiasms of students to take risks, to do what they were most afraid of doing, to widen their horizons of action."

"I tried to stir the imagination and enthusiasms of students to take risks, to do what they were most afraid of doing, to widen their horizons of action."

James Broughton, American Director

Imagination, Action, Students

29

"I didn't want to see George Hamilton playing me, I wanted the real thing."

"I didn't want to see George Hamilton playing me, I wanted the real thing."

Robert Evans, American Director

29

"MPC, Moving Picture Company, they're really excellent, they did the majority of the effects."

"MPC, Moving Picture Company, they're really excellent, they did the majority of the effects."

Ridley Scott, British Director

Movies, Company, Majority

29

"The danger is not so much in the economic structure of a society but in its intellectual structure."

"The danger is not so much in the economic structure of a society but in its intellectual structure."

Philip Kaufman, American Director

Society, Danger

29

"If you still want to kill him, do me a favor and take him outside. Those are new sheets."

"If you still want to kill him, do me a favor and take him outside. Those are new sheets."

Blake Edwards, American Director

29

"I think a badly crafted, great idea for a new film with a ton of spelling mistakes is just 100 times better than a well-crafted stale script."

"I think a badly crafted, great idea for a new film with a ton of spelling mistakes is just 100 times better than a well-crafted stale script."

Alexander Payne, American Director

Creativity, Idea, Film, Mistakes, Spelling

29

"When I got lucky with Dean, I ended up with 16 years with one of the truly great performers of all time. He was the greatest performer I'd ever been around, bar none."

"When I got lucky with Dean, I ended up with 16 years with one of the truly great performers of all time. He was the greatest performer I'd ever been around, bar none."

Greg Garrison, American Director

29

"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

29

"I might have a guitar or a piano on set to play something for the actors."

"I might have a guitar or a piano on set to play something for the actors."

Mike Figgis, English Director

Actor, Actors, Guitar, Play

29

"That is a Medieval way of drawing history, in which they do not respect the law and want the rest of the world to respect the law. That's not possible."

"That is a Medieval way of drawing history, in which they do not respect the law and want the rest of the world to respect the law. That's not possible."

Emir Kusturica, Serbian Director

History, Law, Respect, Rest

29

"I do know that some Buddhists are able to attain peace of mind."

"I do know that some Buddhists are able to attain peace of mind."

Martin Scorsese, American Director

29

"A born poet knows in his cradle that a poetic life is the only life worth living."

"A born poet knows in his cradle that a poetic life is the only life worth living."

James Broughton, American Director

Life, Living, Worth

29

"It means that if they misunderstood Comfort and Joy, they misunderstood my other films."

"It means that if they misunderstood Comfort and Joy, they misunderstood my other films."

Bill Forsyth, Scottish Director

29

"If I fail, the film industry writes me off as another statistic. If I succeed, they pay me a million bucks to fly out to Hollywood and fart."

"If I fail, the film industry writes me off as another statistic. If I succeed, they pay me a million bucks to fly out to Hollywood and fart."

George A. Romero, American Director

Film, Hollywood, Succeed

28

"And it was out in the theaters in two weeks. This is not, 'We're going to develop twenty-five and maybe one's going to get made,' so the first three things I wrote got up on the screen and, good, bad or indifferent, I got to see them on their feet."

"And it was out in the theaters in two weeks. This is not, 'We're going to develop twenty-five and maybe one's going to get made,' so the first three things I wrote got up on the screen and, good, bad or indifferent, I got to see them on their feet."

John Sayles, American Director

Media, Feet, First

28

"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

28

"Oh, I find it very easy to fall in love."

"Oh, I find it very easy to fall in love."

Sam Peckinpah, American Director

28

"Forty years ago this country went down a rabbit hole in Vietnam and millions died. I fear we're going down a rabbit hole once again - and if people can stop and think and reflect on some of the ideas and issues in this movie, perhaps I've done some damn good here!"

"Forty years ago this country went down a rabbit hole in Vietnam and millions died. I fear we're going down a rabbit hole once again - and if people can stop and think and reflect on some of the ideas and issues in this movie, perhaps I've done some damn good here!"

Errol Morris, American Director

People, Fear, Ideas, Country

28

"If the arts are held up solely as a means of social insight, fantasy is denied the chance to be commonplace and reality the chance to be exotic."

"If the arts are held up solely as a means of social insight, fantasy is denied the chance to be commonplace and reality the chance to be exotic."

Richard Eyre, British Director

Chance, Fantasy, Reality

28

"I like making black and white films in natural surroundings, but I much prefer shooting a color film inside a studio where the colors are easier to control."

"I like making black and white films in natural surroundings, but I much prefer shooting a color film inside a studio where the colors are easier to control."

Claude Chabrol, French Director

Control, Colors, Film

28

"It's a mistake to confuse pity with love."

"It's a mistake to confuse pity with love."

Stanley Kubrick, American Director

Love, Mistake, Pity

28

"When it comes to two of the big social earthquakes in the last fifty years - which are the gay movement and the women's movement - I think there is a direct line from Kinsey to those."

"When it comes to two of the big social earthquakes in the last fifty years - which are the gay movement and the women's movement - I think there is a direct line from Kinsey to those."

Bill Condon, American Director

Woman, Women, Gay, Years

28

"We made it known that we were trying to show the reality of France. People think of Paris as the city of love or the city of light, but where you got love you got hate, where you got light you got darkness."

"We made it known that we were trying to show the reality of France. People think of Paris as the city of love or the city of light, but where you got love you got hate, where you got light you got darkness."

Mathieu Kassovitz, French Director

Love, People, Darkness, France

28

"But for me, it feels like a natural extension of what I've been doing: exploring relationships. Here you have two relationships and we can explore how difficult it is for people to be together."

"But for me, it feels like a natural extension of what I've been doing: exploring relationships. Here you have two relationships and we can explore how difficult it is for people to be together."

Neil LaBute, American Director

Relationship, People, Relationships

28

"If you had the opportunity and some talent, there was no way you couldn't progress, because it was an open market. There was the advertising world, and there was the documentary world."

"If you had the opportunity and some talent, there was no way you couldn't progress, because it was an open market. There was the advertising world, and there was the documentary world."

Richard Donner, American Director

Talent, Opportunity, Progress, Advertising

28

"The guy that made me wanna make movies... and this is off the wall-is a guy named Michael Pal, the British director."

"The guy that made me wanna make movies... and this is off the wall-is a guy named Michael Pal, the British director."

George A. Romero, American Director

28

"Film as dream, film as music. No art passes our conscience in the way film does, and goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls."

"Film as dream, film as music. No art passes our conscience in the way film does, and goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls."

Ingmar Bergman, Swedish Director

Art, Music, Feelings, Dream

28

"No, originally I thought that writing articles would keep me from having to see a psychiatrist, but I became even more depressed as a result."

"No, originally I thought that writing articles would keep me from having to see a psychiatrist, but I became even more depressed as a result."

Theo Van Gogh, Dutch Director

Thought, Result, Writing

28

"I cannot forget a conversation that I had with an elderly couple from the tribe. They asked me whether I would kill them after I had finished. When I asked them why they asked that, they replied, Because you white men always do!"

"I cannot forget a conversation that I had with an elderly couple from the tribe. They asked me whether I would kill them after I had finished. When I asked them why they asked that, they replied, Because you white men always do!"

Roland Joffe, English Director

Man, Men, Conversation, Elderly, Forget

28

"My father wanted me to be a pharmacist like himself. He had been a doctor, but he no longer believed in medicine; so he became a pharmacist, but he believed in that hardly more."

"My father wanted me to be a pharmacist like himself. He had been a doctor, but he no longer believed in medicine; so he became a pharmacist, but he believed in that hardly more."

Claude Chabrol, French Director

Family, Father, Medicine

28

"Only the Russian Cultural Officer was interested in my project."

"Only the Russian Cultural Officer was interested in my project."

Wolfgang Staudte, German Director

Movies, Project

28

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