It's so rare that you see a movie that you are genuinely moved by on a real level, and you relate to it, and you come out feeling uplifted.
'The Exorcist' is the scariest movie ever made. It just felt dead-on real, like you were watching the existence of the devil.
A lot of first-time filmmakers are almost apologizing for their movie by saying, 'Well, we only had 18 days to shoot, you know.'
I think that 'Elysium' the movie is unrealistic, with the space station and everything. I think 'Elysium' the metaphor is completely realistic: it's exactly where we're going.
When I start a movie, there will be certain films that I watch again just because the vibe seems right.
'Frances Ha' is the closest final product to what I had in my head of any movie I've made. I'm not entirely even sure why that is.
I've always wanted to appear in a 3-D Movie, that's always been a goal of mine. If you appear in a 3-D picture you are a shoo-in for an Oscar. There's no competition.
Making a movie is still very difficult in Hollywood, regardless of what you have and what level you're at. It is a house of cards, and things have to perfectly align.
I didn't know Charlie before doing the movie, but I was a huge fan of the British Queer as Folk.
Don't set out to make a scary movie and then flinch every time you're supposed to scare somebody because you're afraid of being MPAA or you're afraid of your own demons or whatever.
Nothing is more enjoyable for me than when I'm watching a movie or a TV show and there's that sense that anything can happen. It is the most fun feeling in the world.
I don't like everybody knowing what I'm doing, unless it's related to a movie. I don't like speaking to the press. I never did.
Bernard Herrmann used to write all his scores by himself. So did Bach, Beethoven and Stravinsky. I don't understand why this happens in the movie industry.
I probably hold the distinction of being one movie star who, by all laws of logic, should never have made it. At each stage of my career, I lacked the experience.
My tag line for 'Silver Linings' is this: It's about a man who thinks his life is a movie produced by God.
I think one of the things that was a huge surprise to everyone with 'Silence of the Lambs' was that that was an Oscar-winning horror movie. It struck such a nerve with audiences that it was a very particular, special experience.
The visceral experience of seeing a movie in three dimensions, coming at you in the theater, is obviously here to stay, because it is a unique experience. I think that kind of format is only appropriate for some genres, but I'm all for it.
When I was 25 years old and had no money - and didn't know how to make movies and had no experience - I was able to get $25,000 together, and that film was 'The Brothers McMullen.'
The whole experience of working on this movie was so fun, and I had more fun working on that than I've had on anything else. I had more fun working than on my days off.
The joy of acting for me is to be able to experience emotions in a safe environment. You can't scream and cry in the street because everybody will look. If you do it on a movie set, you get applauded.
Magic to me is you make a movie and it's all great and it clicks, and at the end of the day you feel like you're having an experience that is positive and that you're learning from.
