Movies are not novels, and that's why, when filmmakers try to adapt novels, particularly long or complex novels, the result is almost always failure. It can't be done.
Susanne Bier's work I've always really enjoyed. She's just such a great filmmaker; she's very cool and very sexy - that always helps, too.
Most filmmakers aren't very interested in history. They worry constantly that people will be bored.
A filmmaker doesn't have to suffer to show suffering. You just have to understand it. You don't have to die to shoot a death scene.
For American filmmakers, the Oscars is like a mystic thing. For me, it was being in a mirror of my dreams when I was dreaming of Hollywood when I was an adolescent.
I had no education in filmmaking. I started with a 8mm camera. I made 34 films, and little by little I gained more experience in filming.
Capitalism would have never let me be a filmmaker, living in Flint, Michigan with a high school education. I was going to have to make that happen myself.
David O. Russell is probably my favorite filmmaker. He's not only a great director, but he's also a great writer.
What's great about documentary, it seems to me, is that it can be experimental filmmaking. You have a license to do a lot of diverse things under the umbrella of 'documentary.'
I think there is a feeling of old Hitchcock in there. There are parts that are tributes to some of the old great horror movies and the old great filmmakers.
I like to read and dream and create music that is based on the imagery of text. If you have the combination of a great book and a great filmmaker, what could be better for the composer?
I've had really great experiences working with first-time directors. They come at filmmaking with fresh ideas. I've been very lucky that way.
For any filmmaker who has just released a film and who is experiencing some measure of success, the temptation can be great to respond to every screening request that comes in.
In my view, the only way to see a film remains the way the filmmaker intended: inside a large movie theater with great sound and pristine picture.
As intelligent and responsible filmmakers, working in a free society, we have a duty to ensure that our chosen medium is a force for good. Especially in this ever-more complex and difficult world.
I wasn't a kid who moved out from Iowa with aspirations of becoming a famous star - I was intrigued by the idea of filmmaking and by the idea of what it would be like to play a character in a movie.
It's only been a couple of times in my life that I've really locked horns with actors. It did not hurt the films, it just hurt the moment of the filmmaking.
On the comedy side of what I love as a filmmaker are Richard Pryor, Lenny Bruce, and Eddie Murphy; those are my favorites.
I love just about every aspect of the filmmaking except acting. I would never be able to do that, but the rest I really enjoy.
The influence of Steven Spielberg to my career is unquantifiable. Every day on the set with him is a master class in filmmaking.
I feel 100% sure that I have the career that I have today because of independent filmmaking.
