20th-century Director Quotes

The 'human situation,' in all its guises, is what good films are all about, and technical skill counts for nothing if it is used only to manufacture films which have little to do with humanity.

The interesting part about making these films is that it's half directing, and half really being a leader, because you have such little time to shoot such a big concept. It's really like a war against time, and your crew is your platoon. You're going as hard and as fast as you can to try to get everything on screen.

Your trading needs to boil down to rules, money management, and that is it.

My happiest childhood memories are of times in our backyard. My mother had an old clothesline that hung out in front. It seemed like it stretched a mile long, and I loved sitting in the sun while she hung clothes.

And there is something great about knowing that my only job is to be as happy as I can be about my life, and feel as good as I can about myself, and to lead as full and eventful a life as I can, so that it doesn't ever feel like I'm just waiting around for some guy to ask me out. And most importantly, it's good for us all to remember that we don't need to scheme and plot and beg to get someone to ask us out. We're fantastic.

I just heard what was said, it isn't strictly accurate by any means, I'm a man who's just been lucky on having wonderful partners, Schoedsack alot more than I did on Grass and Chang, and right down the line I've only had John Ford as a partner, Thomas is a great friend on technicolor, and for cinerama, Fred Waller invented it, Thomas picked up the ball and ran with it, and there's a young man in this audience, Bob Bendick, that most of you have never heard, that did far more of the production then I did. I want to thank all the great partners I've had in my life, thank you. I just want to add I'm still John Ford's partner.

Merian C. Cooper

In this Western culture we have all grown up as snow queens—straights, as well as white queers—Western culture is in love with its own (white) image.

Don't you get it? It's the end of the world! That's exactly when you fall in love. When else?

It is an honor to be nominated as Director of National Intelligence. A robust and responsible intelligence infrastructure is essential to our homeland security, and if confirmed I will ensure our national security decision-makers have every piece of information they need to protect the American people from the threats facing our nation. There is no higher priority than keeping America safe, and I will utilize every tool at my disposal to make that happen.

Directing films obviously there's a ton more responsibility rather than just coming in and directing the action on the film because you're responsible for every little nuance in the film from fingernail polish to jewelry to wardrobe to hair and you're dealing with actors, you're dealing with studio critics, and studios. You're responsible for budget, more responsibility on all fronts, but it's a great art form!

I have no qualm about using the word nigger. It is a word. It is in the English lexicon, and no amount of political correctness, no amputation into "the n-word"—as if by the castration of a few letters we should then be able to conceptualize its meaning without feeling its sting—will remove it from reality.

The apparent simplicity of a model is due to a failure of imagination and limited data, unless the domain really is simple. If the world were really random, chemistry, cooking, and credit would not be possible, so our models cannot be figments of our imagination.

Peter Cheeseman

You want to do something that shows some type individuality and talent and imagination... at the same time, you want to be truthful to the predecessors, because obviously the audience liked something about them and you have to replicate that experience to a certain extent. Not to just go ahead and make something that's completely different and ruin a franchise. At the same time, you don't want to be embarrassed in front of your peers and look like you're just copying something, and there's nothing individual. It's a very tricky balance. There are pressures, because you're going to be compared to the predecessors.

Stay true to what scares you. If you don't respect that, you can't scare anyone.

Andrés Muschietti

Book-to-screen adaptations must always strive for two things: First, you must find a way to tell the broad story of the original plot; second, you must somehow reflect the spirit and texture of the novel—that is, you must transform a lot of words into a few pictures.

Tommy Lee Wallace

Voltaire was witty because he drank coffee. A conventional liquid stimulant.

Marcello Marchesi