Quotes by Director | Beyond Motive 62/67

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Quotes by Director

"I like writing because you can make things happen and turn out the way they never do in real life."

"I like writing because you can make things happen and turn out the way they never do in real life."

Rob Reiner, American Director

31

"It's always a pleasure to find something that matters."

"It's always a pleasure to find something that matters."

Don Cornelius, American Director

31

"I am fascinated with times past."

"I am fascinated with times past."

Frank Darabont, American Director

31

"Babies don't need fathers, but mothers do. Someone who is taking care of a baby needs to be taken care of."

"Babies don't need fathers, but mothers do. Someone who is taking care of a baby needs to be taken care of."

Amy Heckerling, American Director

Parenting, Babies, Baby, Care, Fathers

31

"I was doing acting work at Fox - bit pieces with Greg Peck in The Gunfighter and things like that - and grew up more or less as a Fox contract player in about two years."

"I was doing acting work at Fox - bit pieces with Greg Peck in The Gunfighter and things like that - and grew up more or less as a Fox contract player in about two years."

Larry Buchanan, American Director

Work, Acting, Years

31

"Sometimes when we weep in the movies we weep for ourselves or for a life unlived. Or we even go to the movies because we want to resist the emotion that's there in front of us. I think there is always a catharsis that I look for and that makes the movie experience worthwhile."

"Sometimes when we weep in the movies we weep for ourselves or for a life unlived. Or we even go to the movies because we want to resist the emotion that's there in front of us. I think there is always a catharsis that I look for and that makes the movie experience worthwhile."

Edward Zwick, American Director

Life, Experience, Movies, Emotion

31

"The quality of life decreases with heightened security."

"The quality of life decreases with heightened security."

Rebecca Miller, American Director

Life, Quality, Security

31

"Directing her was like directing Lassie. You need 14 takes to get each one of them right."

"Directing her was like directing Lassie. You need 14 takes to get each one of them right."

Otto Preminger, Austrian Director

Entertainment, Right

31

"And I liked this extreme character of de Sade."

"And I liked this extreme character of de Sade."

Philip Kaufman, American Director

Character, Extreme

31

"I don't use composers. I research music the way I research the photographs or the facts in my scripts."

"I don't use composers. I research music the way I research the photographs or the facts in my scripts."

Ken Burns, American Director

Music, Composers, Facts, Research

31

"I make movies I want to see."

"I make movies I want to see."

Neil LaBute, American Director

31

"There is no way I could have ever dared to make a documentary, much less have the money to make a documentary, if it was on 16mm. But, with the magic of digital."

"There is no way I could have ever dared to make a documentary, much less have the money to make a documentary, if it was on 16mm. But, with the magic of digital."

Lloyd Kaufman, American Director

30

"Whatever you think of de Sade, he was a complex figure and we should not look for easy answers with him. He was, strangely perhaps, against the death penalty, and he was never put in prison for murders or anything like that."

"Whatever you think of de Sade, he was a complex figure and we should not look for easy answers with him. He was, strangely perhaps, against the death penalty, and he was never put in prison for murders or anything like that."

Philip Kaufman, American Director

Death, Answers, Prison

30

"I really do believe that if you don't challenge yourself and risk failing, that it's not interesting."

"I really do believe that if you don't challenge yourself and risk failing, that it's not interesting."

Julie Taymor, American Director

Challenge, Risk

30

"We had our first meeting yesterday, and we just laughed all the way through, so if we can bottle that, then I'll be happy. We just get on, and that's half the battle."

"We had our first meeting yesterday, and we just laughed all the way through, so if we can bottle that, then I'll be happy. We just get on, and that's half the battle."

Allan Carr, British Director

Battle, First, Meeting, Yesterday

30

"People think my work is therapeutic. I don't see it that way. It's not like I'm saving money from a weekly therapy visit by writing down my life."

"People think my work is therapeutic. I don't see it that way. It's not like I'm saving money from a weekly therapy visit by writing down my life."

Neil LaBute, American Director

Life, Money, Work, People

30

"Americans in particular are myopic. They're not traveling as much. When you were a college student, the next thing you would do on graduation was to take a year off and travel. That's what I did. I went to Indonesia."

"Americans in particular are myopic. They're not traveling as much. When you were a college student, the next thing you would do on graduation was to take a year off and travel. That's what I did. I went to Indonesia."

Julie Taymor, American Director

Travel, Graduation, Americans, College

30

"You're talking to somebody who two years ago couldn't figure out how to use e-mail and who now has carpal tunnel. It has totally changed in that these films would not be getting out to people the way they're getting out without the Internet."

"You're talking to somebody who two years ago couldn't figure out how to use e-mail and who now has carpal tunnel. It has totally changed in that these films would not be getting out to people the way they're getting out without the Internet."

Robert Greenwald, American Director

People, Internet, Now, Talking

30

"The basic premise of this is that, yes, people have learned to clone each other, but that cloning is illegal. Not that it's bad, just that the law as it is now, is that if you die, you're dead."

"The basic premise of this is that, yes, people have learned to clone each other, but that cloning is illegal. Not that it's bad, just that the law as it is now, is that if you die, you're dead."

Roger Spottiswoode, Canadian Director

People, Law, Now

30

"Being a kid growing up with Kurosawa films and watching Sergio Leone movies just made me love what it could do to you, and how it could influence you - make you dream."

"Being a kid growing up with Kurosawa films and watching Sergio Leone movies just made me love what it could do to you, and how it could influence you - make you dream."

Antoine Fuqua, American Director

Love, Movies, Dream, Being

30

"It's people who are repressed and cannot express their fears that are dangerous."

"It's people who are repressed and cannot express their fears that are dangerous."

Julie Taymor, American Director

30

"Basically, if you could get a good trailer out of the script, Roger had no objection to you making a really good movie. He liked it if you did. He liked the more cleverness and ingenuity you could bring to it. He just wasn't going to give you any more money."

"Basically, if you could get a good trailer out of the script, Roger had no objection to you making a really good movie. He liked it if you did. He liked the more cleverness and ingenuity you could bring to it. He just wasn't going to give you any more money."

John Sayles, American Director

Money, Cleverness

30

"When I think of the library of Alexandria and of the fact that, although it burnt down, people continue to sort the letters of the alphabet according to that tradition, then that makes certain expressions of modernity, even of interventions on the textual level, possible."

"When I think of the library of Alexandria and of the fact that, although it burnt down, people continue to sort the letters of the alphabet according to that tradition, then that makes certain expressions of modernity, even of interventions on the textual level, possible."

Alexander Kluge, German Director

People, Fact, Letters, Modernity

30

"If people take the film and screen it whenever possible for their social and professional networks, we can continue to make a difference. It is one more element we have to use in the ongoing effort to take back our country."

"If people take the film and screen it whenever possible for their social and professional networks, we can continue to make a difference. It is one more element we have to use in the ongoing effort to take back our country."

Robert Greenwald, American Director

People, Country, Difference, Effort

30

"Art is a sense of magic."

"Art is a sense of magic."

Stan Brakhage, American Director

Art, Magic, Sense

30

"Man consists of two parts, his mind and his body, only the body has more fun."

"Man consists of two parts, his mind and his body, only the body has more fun."

Woody Allen, American Director

Body, Fun, Man, Mind

30

"In France they spend six months training policemen, then they give them a gun and put them on the streets, and I don't know that that's enough. The film's not against the police - although I think that if someone wants to be a cop there's got to be a problem."

"In France they spend six months training policemen, then they give them a gun and put them on the streets, and I don't know that that's enough. The film's not against the police - although I think that if someone wants to be a cop there's got to be a problem."

Mathieu Kassovitz, French Director

Film, France, Months, Police

30

"I mean simply to say that I want my characters to suggest the background in themselves, even when it is not visible. I want them to be so powerfully realized that we cannot imagine them apart from their physical and social context even when we see them in empty space."

"I mean simply to say that I want my characters to suggest the background in themselves, even when it is not visible. I want them to be so powerfully realized that we cannot imagine them apart from their physical and social context even when we see them in empty space."

Michelangelo Antonioni, Italian Director

30

"All men are mortal. Socrates was mortal. Therefore, all men are Socrates."

"All men are mortal. Socrates was mortal. Therefore, all men are Socrates."

Woody Allen, American Director

Logic, Truth, Reason, Observation

30

"Everything's a lot easier when you work with someone you know just about as well as you know yourself."

"Everything's a lot easier when you work with someone you know just about as well as you know yourself."

Peter Farrelly, American Director

30

"The script is very good because the things that happen in it are very believable to me. It doesn't presuppose that the world has changed very much. You don't have to think that you're in a different world."

"The script is very good because the things that happen in it are very believable to me. It doesn't presuppose that the world has changed very much. You don't have to think that you're in a different world."

Roger Spottiswoode, Canadian Director

30

"I'm not going to spend two years on a film or four years on an opera if I don't feel like I can put my own self into it. That doesn't mean it has to be about myself."

"I'm not going to spend two years on a film or four years on an opera if I don't feel like I can put my own self into it. That doesn't mean it has to be about myself."

Julie Taymor, American Director

Film, Opera, Self, Years

30

"Right now it's only a notion, but I think I can get the money to make it into a concept, and later turn it into an idea."

"Right now it's only a notion, but I think I can get the money to make it into a concept, and later turn it into an idea."

Woody Allen, American Director

Money, Idea, Now, Right

30

"I wanted to be a director and producer and writer, but in the early '40's the union wouldn't let you get through the gates. You couldn't get on a crew, or even learn to direct."

"I wanted to be a director and producer and writer, but in the early '40's the union wouldn't let you get through the gates. You couldn't get on a crew, or even learn to direct."

Larry Buchanan, American Director

30

"When I do the music, I make the musicians listen to what's happening in the film. That way they treat the dialogue as if it was a singer."

"When I do the music, I make the musicians listen to what's happening in the film. That way they treat the dialogue as if it was a singer."

Mike Figgis, English Director

Music, Film, Musicians

30

"I only knew a few people, literally a handful of people, al of whom had been in the Party long before I was, all of whom were known by the FBI and were known to the Committee."

"I only knew a few people, literally a handful of people, al of whom had been in the Party long before I was, all of whom were known by the FBI and were known to the Committee."

Edward Dmytryk, American Director

People, Committee, Party

30

"And I've got some screenplays and plays ready to dip into when I need to."

"And I've got some screenplays and plays ready to dip into when I need to."

Neil LaBute, American Director

30

"I don't know what it was, maybe the movie theaters in my immediate surrounding neighbourhood in Burbank, but I never saw what would be considered A movies."

"I don't know what it was, maybe the movie theaters in my immediate surrounding neighbourhood in Burbank, but I never saw what would be considered A movies."

Tim Burton, American Director

30

"The film's dramatic requirements should always take precedence over the mere aesthetics of editing."

"The film's dramatic requirements should always take precedence over the mere aesthetics of editing."

Edward Dmytryk, American Director

Art, Aesthetics, Film

30

"Those are fun, especially if they're going to shoot them in four weeks, because you know they're not going to mess with anything you do, so it can be very imaginative."

"Those are fun, especially if they're going to shoot them in four weeks, because you know they're not going to mess with anything you do, so it can be very imaginative."

John Sayles, American Director

30

"It's not worth it, it's not about money, especially when you're dealing with a culture. It should be about elevating the idea of what we are and who we are as people in the cinema, and that kind of stuff keeps dragging us back down."

"It's not worth it, it's not about money, especially when you're dealing with a culture. It should be about elevating the idea of what we are and who we are as people in the cinema, and that kind of stuff keeps dragging us back down."

Antoine Fuqua, American Director

Money, People, Idea, Cinema

30

"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

30

"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

30

"When you see the films of certain young directors, you get the impression that film history begins for them around 1980."

"When you see the films of certain young directors, you get the impression that film history begins for them around 1980."

Jacques Rivette, French Director

History, Impression, Film

30

"If you're not failing every now and again, it's a sign you're not doing anything very innovative."

"If you're not failing every now and again, it's a sign you're not doing anything very innovative."

Woody Allen, American Director

30

"In life, we all learn from everyone."

"In life, we all learn from everyone."

Nicolas Roeg, English Director

30

"I followed him at the time and thought he was hysterical. He was the first serial killer, a new kettle of fish, because we didn't have the detection techniques in those days."

"I followed him at the time and thought he was hysterical. He was the first serial killer, a new kettle of fish, because we didn't have the detection techniques in those days."

Matthew Bright, American Director

Time, Thought, First, Fish

30

"The story is also about the battle between Arthur and the Saxons. The Saxons were destroying everything they came across and Arthur was left when Rome was falling because this movie takes place in 400 A.D."

"The story is also about the battle between Arthur and the Saxons. The Saxons were destroying everything they came across and Arthur was left when Rome was falling because this movie takes place in 400 A.D."

Antoine Fuqua, American Director

30

"I want to be happy; why do I do things that make me unhappy?"

"I want to be happy; why do I do things that make me unhappy?"

Paul Schrader, American Director

30

"It's a dumb question, because I don't look at things as a black director, just as a director, so ask me as a director first and we can segue into the colour thing later."

"It's a dumb question, because I don't look at things as a black director, just as a director, so ask me as a director first and we can segue into the colour thing later."

Antoine Fuqua, American Director

Identity, Dumb, First, Question

30

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