I left Mexico for artistic survival. If I had stayed, I would have been forced by the government, who control the movie business, to direct TV shows or commercials or infomercials for the government.
I really believe there is the possibility of something great that can happen in the right hands.
A lot of the films I like are more than fantasies – they’re movies fascinated by the technology of space exploration, and they try to honor the laws of physics. I watched the Gregory Peck movie ‘Marooned’ over and over when I was a kid.
I learned there’s an amazing unexplored territory in terms of narrative. Before, I thought the unexplored territory was the form, the way you shoot a movie. Now, I’m learning about the beautiful marriage between form and narrative.
If I would rescue one of my movies, it would be ‘A Little Princess.’
I have my misgivings about 3-D. I don’t like the lack of blacks and whites, how it dulls the image, how the color gets corrupted. I don’t necessarily like the experience of having heavy glasses in front of me.
The two real leads in ‘Children of Men’ are Clive Owen and the social environment. You know, this same movie without the social environment maybe is just like a generic chase movie.
You have to be very focused about the music that you have inside.
I have to confess that I don’t read much of what is written about me.
I used to be very controlling with visuals and editing, and I would pretty much craft the performances; now I have learned to trust the material and the actors.
I think it is something that is so important, to be very aware of the direction in which the 21st century is going with all this blind faith in democracy. And by the way, I am not against democracy – I am against the blind faith that is being put in democracy.
I find it very stupid that teenagers could only see caricatures of teenagers but they couldn’t see films that you try to be a truthful context, a truthful portrayal of teenagers.
I have to say, ‘Gravity’ is better in 3-D, even though in 2-D the quality of the picture is better. But the 3-D is better.
Every film is difficult. Making films, you’re always going to have problems, there’s always going to be challenges.
My mom, she was, she studied chemistry. And later on she changed and majored, she changed later in her career, in her life and studied philosophy and then she did a perfect clash, connection between chemistry and philosophy and she became a witch.
As a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut. And my own passion was that I wanted to be a film director. I realized that being an astronaut was not going to be an option, so I said, “Well, I’m going to be a director and do films in space.”
As a director, you’re only as good as your collaborators. You surround with collaborators that are going to understand what you’re trying to do. Not only that, they’re going to push and fight for what you’re trying to do.
The most important thematics in humanity I think that are completely universal and completely relatable from one person to the other. As long as, one more time going to back to the thematic, as long as you’re truthful to that thematic, you can trust that that is going to transcend.
Story is important but the most important is the theme and how you’re going to convey theme cinematically. I’m a believer also.
Historically, there is a fight between the sound designer and the composer. You see them in the mixing room and they’re always fighting because the composer wants the music to be heard and the sound designer wants the sound to be heard.
I think it’s always important to give immediate positive reinforcement.