It’s a gamble you take, the risk of alienating an audience. But there’s a theory – sometimes it’s better to confuse them for five minutes than let them get ahead of you for 10 seconds.
I remember being taught in school that you would underline things that you liked. I remember just underlining everything as a kid, thinking, ‘This has all gotta be important!’ I would just underline the whole thing!
Well I’d really love to work with Robert De Niro, because he’s still the most talented actor out there.
I don’t get a sense of American pride. I just get a sense that everyone is here, battling the same thing – that around the world everybody’s after the same thing, just some minor piece of happiness each day.
But I’d be lying if I didn’t say that every time you go to make a film, you’re desperate to either do it better than you did it last time or to not repeat yourself.
Film school is a complete con, because the information is there if you want it.
If you figure a way to live without serving a master, any master, then let the rest of us know, will you? For you’d be the first person in the history of the world.
I don’t think it’s a director’s job to peek behind the curtain too much.
My older sister was at the cusp of new wave, and I had older brothers from my father’s first marriage who were rock ‘n’ roll guys, so I was exposed to a lot of popular culture.
Crazy is so hard to play, there’s nothing you can really tell an actor.
I am always looking for that nuance, that moment of truth, and you can’t really do that fast.
I’m completely aware of the fact that I’m a control freak.
You write who you are. But you also cheat, and youwrite what you want to be. It’s embarrasing to be the guy who madethe movie, knowing you’re not exactly who you want to be.
I always had a dream about trying to make a movie that had no dialogue in it, that was just music and pictures. I still haven’t done it yet, but I tried to get close in the beginning.
The films that I love are very straightforward stories, like really old-fashioned stuff.
There’s a lot for screenwriters to steal from songwriters, in terms of getting to the point.
I don’t think the competition’s so rough, within the majority of movies made in Hollywood.
So with ‘There Will Be Blood,’ I didn’t even really feel like I was adapting a book. I was just desperate to find stuff to write.
You know, I’m really not that competent at describing things musically.
I don’t want to be the angry guy.