Quotes About Film

I felt pretty comfortable with Westerns, apart from the fact I couldn't ride.

I knew that I was going to do Westerns. I like 'em.

Westerns are very difficult to predict whether they'll reach an audience or not.

Unless a Western's made money - doesn't matter who made the money, doesn't matter what the subject is - if the last one didn't make any money, you can't make another one for a four-year period. Westerns more than any genre.

Your landscape in a western is one of the most important characters the film has. The best westerns are about man against his own landscape.

I am not a fan of westerns particularly.

I haven't read a lot of Westerns. But I wrote a Western. The influences were all cinematic.

I was born in 1950, so there were tons of Westerns on TV by the time I was 6, 7, 8 years old. In terms of television, 'Maverick' and 'Have Gun - Will Travel.' But filmically, classics like 'High Noon' and 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance' - that's one of my favorite films.

My main camera is a Nikon D3. I use a French camera from the 1800s for wet plate photography, I use a Hasselblad sometimes. But to me the camera really doesn't matter that much. I don't have a preference for film or digital.

I hate being cold and I hate being wet and around 80% percent of this film I was cold and another 60% I was cold and wet, so it wasn't the best shoot for me.

A film like 'Whale Rider' is equally truthful, perhaps more so, to the Maori experience; Maori people respond to 'Whale Rider' because it's a world that they understand.

With every film I've made, 'Whale Rider' included, I've had a vision that was far bigger than the budget allowed.

You watch 'Whale Rider,' and I defy you to not get teary-eyed at the end there.

I love 'Whale Rider.' That's one of my favorite films of all time.

'Whale Rider' was quite an extraordinary shoot. We were in that community on the east coast and so much of what you see in that film was very present.

Not only have I made films about the subject, but I've largely funded them on my own, so I'm fully committed to doing whatever I can to change the audience's respect and appreciation for the ocean. In 100 years I want whales, dolphins and sharks to still be around, and the ocean to be a healthier place.

The film 'The Cove' made people aware of the Japanese slaughter of whales.

I'm not coming from film school. I learned cinema in the cinema watching films, so you always have a curiosity. I say, 'Well, what if I make a film in this genre? What if I make this film like this?'

My performances in auditions were so inept that I hardly got any jobs in film or TV. I just could not learn the lines and the thought of doing theatre terrified me. What if I forgot my lines in the middle of a scene with an entire audience watching?

You go to the edit room and see one scene which has come out fantastically, and you feel the film will set records. By evening, you look at the budget figures or something that hasn't worked out and ask yourself - what if this doesn't work?

But for me, at one point I was like, 'Why do I want to make films that people want to walk out of?' What if I actually want people to engage and have a good time?

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.

I didn't quite realise until we started to put together our first cut of 'Wonderstruck' how much time is spent with no words spoken whatsoever.

I'm quite interested in doing a film about fashion. As someone with no fashion taste whatsoever, I think it would be good for me.