Quotes About Filmmaking

I went to Rwanda with my wife who had been going for the past three summers. She is an art therapist who works with survivors of the genocide. I decided to become a volunteer also, and to teach filmmaking. But thinking about how to approach a class, it made sense to start making a movie there, with the kids.

Lars von Trier, Wim Wenders, Werner Herzog: They all write, which is much better because it's their baby, and they know what they want.

As soon as you make some films that people like, you'll be sent material, and that can come from anywhere.

A sequel is going to be a pressure no matter who directs it. A sequel is only made when the original film works.

It's not something someone sets out to do - I never really set out to make movies about strong fighting women, but it just seems to happen that way. I've certainly known some, and I think my sister was probably a big influence.

I'll always love movies. But there's something I love very much about TV, when you shoot episodes while other episodes are still being written.

After making a movie, maybe you weren't able to shoot many of your ideas, because a movie is only 1 1/2 or two hours long, but TV gives you space to film a lot of things.

When I'm shooting, I don't care who the star is. I have an actor playing a part, and I'm serving the script, not serving anyone's career.

I'm definitely not drawn to shooting on a stage, I'm just not.

I shoot reality-based movies, and in actual locations, shooting them with a star is next to impossible.

From 2005 to 2010, I was exclusively shooting 'The Act of Killing' and then editing it.

I've learned that I really want to shoot short films on a short schedule. There can be very good films that run 110 minutes, but 90 minutes is beautiful.

I started making little short films with friends, and then I decided I wanted to get into the school play in high school.

I was making short films and putting on plays at school. I was also in love with my teacher, so yeah - I was the kid in 'Rushmore.'

When a scene is being shot, it is very difficult to know what one wants it to say, and even if one does know, there is always a difference between what one has in mind and the result on film.

I wanted to be a movie director. I was just obsessed with watching movies and camera shots and directors. I read autobiographies and stuff of directors.

I've storyboarded for things other people have shot. So thinking in shots and orchestrating shots is not foreign to me at all.

Having grown up watching my father direct films and having worked with him and my brother, I know how films are made, how shots are taken.

Making films is hard. Awesome, but hard.

Just being in love with making films makes me carry on.

But I'm never gonna get to a point in my life where what it costs to shoot a movie is going to determine what it is. The limits of my imagination is the only thing that's gonna stop me.

I was speaking to Ridley Scott the other day and he makes a film every 18 months. He's amazing really.

I think one of the privileges of being a filmmaker or an actor is the ability to take risks, and the ability to tell stories that might not otherwise be told.

Filmmaking is something that I'm really passionate about. Film, in general, is something that I'm passionate about.