November 9, 2012
I hope I’m not too late for this one. Thank you http://isaacspictureconclusions.com/ for passing the baton [I’m sorry I took so long to finally work on it]. This relay was created originally by David at Taste Of Cinema who provided the following as a description and the aim of the relay…
“People love wisdom words from great minds. As a cinephile, I prefer director quotes than words from any other group of people in the world.Their thoughts on cinema not only provide insights into deep understanding of cinema, but also open the window to their own films, their genres, their filmmaking methods, thus they need to receive more exposure as their films did.”
The rules of the relay are quite simple really. There will be a list of 10 directors and direct quotes from them that explain their motivations and reasons in how they see their craft. Every time the relay is received by a blogger they will have to choose which director to omit and replace him/her with a choice of their own and then choose another blogger to continue the race.
I was kindly invited into this by my good friend Tyson who runs the site HEAD IN A VICE. Tyson is a sporting chap who likes to yell at me frequently but I still do everything I can to make him successful.
Other bloggers involved in this so far have been – Movie and Song 365, And So It Begins…, The Cinematic Spectacle, On Page and Screen, FlixChatter, Keith & The Movies and Marked Movies. So without further ado, here is the list of director’s that have made the cut…
Quentin Tarantino
“I steal from every single movie ever made. I love it – if my work has anything it’s that I’m taking this from this and that from that and mixing them together. If people don’t like that, then tough titty, don’t go and see it, all right? I steal from everything. Great artists steal; they don’t do homages.” – Quentin Tarantino
Seijun Suzuki
“Why make a movie about something one understands completely? I make movies about things I do not understand, but wish to.” – Seijun Suzuki
Pedro Almodovar
“When I make a film, I never stop uncovering mysteries, making discoveries. When I’m writing, filming, editing, even doing promotional work, I discover new things about the film, about myself, and about others. That is what I’m subconsciously looking for when shooting a film: to glimpse the enigmas of life, even if I don’t resolve them, but at least to uncover them. Cinema is curiosity in the most intense meaning of the word.” – Pedro Almodovar
Krzysztof Kieslowski
“You make films to give people something, to transport them somewhere else, and it doesn’t matter if you transport them to a world of intuition or a world of intellect…The realm of superstitions, fortune-telling, presentiments, intuition, dreams, all this is the inner life of a human being, and all this is the hardest thing to film… I’ve been trying to get there from the beginning. I’m somebody who doesn’t know, somebody who’s searching.” – Krzysztof Kieslowski
Christopher Nolan
“Every film should have its own world, a logic and feel to it that expands beyond the exact image that the audience is seeing.” – Christopher Nolan
Kathryn Bigelow
“If there is resistance to women making movies, I choose to ignore it. That is because I cannot change my gender and I refuse to stop making movies.” – Katheryn Bigelow
Paul Thomas Anderson
“I really subscribe to that old adage that you should never let the audience get ahead of you for a second. So if the film’s abrasive and wrongfoots people then, y’know, that’s great. But I hope it involves an audience. If not, that’s my fuck-up.” – Paul Thomas Anderson
Martin Scorsese
“I think when you’re young and have that first burst of energy and make five or six pictures in a row that tell the stories of all the things in life you want to say . . . well, maybe those are the films that should have won me the Oscar. When Taxi Driver (1976) was up for Best Picture, it got three other nominations: Best Actor [Robert De Niro], Best Supporting Actress [Jodie Foster] and Best Music. But the director and writer were overlooked. I was so disappointed, I said, “You know what? That’s the way it’s going to be”. What was I going to do, go home and cry?”
I’m a horror movie type of dude so I went with one of my favorite horror movie directors of them all:
John Carpenter (and it’s a collection of quotes):
“I made a decision back in 1978 that, in a trade off for money when I directed Halloween, I would have my name above the title in order to basically brand these movies my own.”
“In England, I’m a horror movie director. In Germany, I’m a filmmaker. In the US, I’m a bum. “
“One could make money and get a career going with a low-budget horror film about killers attacking on holidays. It is always flattering to have somebody copy you.”
Alejandro González Iñárritu
Alejandro González Iñárritu -> IMAGE SOURCE
“(On why did he not record an audio commentary for 21 Grams (2003)) I don’t like them. I feel that if you have to explain something, it loses strength. It’s like a magician trying to explain his magic, in a way. Those kind of things make me feel like I’ve lost something special about the film. The film should explain itself”
one more…
“I think that in order to be a film director, one has to be a warrior who shouldn’t be defeated by the daily onslaught of problems. We are all hanging by threads and are the mercy of various elements, if one fails the whole flight could come crashing down, and like a good warrior I’m not going to break down”
I’m sorry I’ve deleted 2 “quotes” to make it 10 directors. The deleted quotes were from Directors Jean-Luc Goddard and Federico Fellini for no apparent reasons but to comply with the “rules”.
Choosing just one director’s quote was an arduous task because apparently I have so many favourite directors 😦 Well, I’ve picked Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu not only for some of the amazing movies I’ve watched of his but also because thanks to him Gael Garcia Bernal [sigh] made it to the movies. He’s also revived the latino film industry if I’m not wrong.
Thank you once again http://isaacspictureconclusions.com/2012/11/09/10-favorite-directors-quotes-relay-race/ for this honour 😀 Now’s the tough part – passing the baton. to Mr. better than IMDB.
