Quotes About Film

Since I still think of myself as a middle class guy, people get to see that side of me in films like 'Middle Class Abbayi.'

As the death of the middle class of film has happened, it has been re-birthed in television.

There's not enough black films out there. There's not enough Latin films, or films that have an Asian, Indian or Middle Eastern lead. The list goes on and on.

What's genius about 'Gravity' is that you are close upon the actors, but 3D works best when you have foreground, middle ground and background.

I want to see that 'Anita' documentary. I want to see 'Lovelace'; I want to see 'After Midnight,' because I saw the other two and I loved them. I thought the last one was great.

But I think the thing I'm proud of about the film is that there aren't many films - either independent films or mainstream Hollywood films - that are like this; it's of its own times, and it's the film Mike Nichols wanted to make.

Mike Leigh taught me about making choices - as an actor, you choose between being honest and clever, and with Mike, it's always about being honest. I learned how to behave on a film set from Jim Broadbent. He was a great example of someone with a fantastic career who kept his feet on the ground.

When we were filming the first 'Magic Mike,' we obviously had a limited budget; it was an independent film. And we would entertain extras in between takes.

My first movie was with Mike Nichols.

Working with Mike Leigh is a process of distillation.

I was in Milan, and somebody gave me a Trussardi diary, and I thought 'Genius.' Inside I put the Polaroids, how much film I shot, who I shot with. This way, for billing later on, I had all the information.

Every film has been a personal milestone for me.

Because I fell in love with the idea of films early on, not because I was in the milieu, but moreso because of the potential of having a couple of hundred people in a dark room, looking at a screen.

Then when I went to Iraq and saw the strength and character the men and women in our military service exhibit every day and their belief in what they're doing, I knew I wanted to get that on film and share it with everyone. They are my inspiration.

I think film can change lives. Doing 'Milk' changed mine, for sure. When I see that someone like Harvey Milk changed his life and the lives of many others in just eight years, I feel powerful. I go out of the cinema saying, 'Maybe there's something I can do, too.'

I always thought that the film would be successful if we captured Harvey Milk, like the way Harvey really was-the personality, the humor, the corny bad jokes, all of it.

I got to know Australians well working on the 'Mad Max' franchise with director George Miller.

I've always been inspired by the great actors and actresses of the '30s and '40s like Fred Astaire, Ann Miller and Gene Kelly.

It's sad when you say a $30 million film is an inexpensive film, but it is.

If you look at 'Avatar,' could you imagine if you did 'Avatar' for 50 million dollars? It would be ridiculous! You would almost be getting laughs from the audience, unless you got a real indie director to do something incredibly stylised.

I think it's easier to make a film with 200 million dollars than 960 grand.

Eventually, in '84, we made a film for a little over a million dollars - with American actors that was shot in English - that was shown in Finland A little action film called Born American.

If we got $100 million dollars to make a movie, I don't know if we should be making a $100 million dollar movie our first time out.

There's nothing like being on a massive-budget film where you don't know anything, and there's a million people, and no one's communicating.