Quotes about film
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“But after this show with Barkha, they stopped taking my calls and till date, I don’t know what made an advanced negotiation stop without any further discussion. I found it strange and I had no idea then that suddenly I had created lots of Gudsa Usendis who didn’t want me to succeed with this film. They were using all their tactics to destroy me. I had only two choices: speak up or shut up. I spoke up.”

Vivek Agnihotri (1973) director

Urban Naxals (2018)

Idea

“I became the protagonist of my story and the protagonist of my life. I realized we’ve all been left out of this story. We are always the supporting characters, and we have to say no. My job is to show people that everyone belongs in the theater, everyone belongs making films, everybody has something important to teach someone else. And that’s why stories are so important.”

Josefina Lopez (1969) American playwright

On making Latinos the center of the story in “Josefina López: ‘I became the protagonist of my story’” https://boyleheightsbeat.com/josefina-lopez-i-became-the-protagonist-of-my-story/ in Boyle Heights Beat (2018 Sep 19)

Life, People, Making love, Support

“In the beginning I felt like I wasn’t represented on stage or on film. As Latinos, we have been told in every which way that we don’t matter, that we are invisible — especially people who are indigenous, people who value their Native American roots. We’ve been eradicated, made invisible, and that’s one way that we’ve been disempowered. So, I realized the most powerful thing you can do is to own your humanity…”

Josefina Lopez (1969) American playwright

On her experiences in theater and arts as a whole in “Josefina López: ‘I became the protagonist of my story’” https://boyleheightsbeat.com/josefina-lopez-i-became-the-protagonist-of-my-story/ in Boyle Heights Beat (2018 Sep 19)

People, Way

“Bruce Lee’s first filmed fight scene of his career, was fighting me as Robin on Batman.”

Burt Ward (1945) American actor

Because we were friends, we sparred together, As qtd. in Herbie J Pilato, “Burt Ward — The Man Wonder” https://medium.com/@herbiejpilato/burt-ward-the-man-wonder-4ba41eaf6c69, Medium, (Feb 14, 2019)

Fight

“In my opinion, as far as action is concerned, and physical action, the punches and kicks, they don’t really matter. Even shooting a gun. It all depends on, for me, what your intention is, what you put behind it and how it serves the film…”

Rick Yune (1971) American actor

On performing action scenes and stunts in films in “INTERVIEW: Rick Yune Talks OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN https://www.ramascreen.com/interview-rick-yune-talks-olympus-has-fallen/ in Rama’s Screen (2013 Mar 21)

Dependency

“I mean there’s something magical about filmmaking and people that work within film. It’s the most beautiful thing, because so many people are coming together and they just think about a common goal. It’s almost similar to the military, but all of a sudden you’ll be in there and you’re about to do something and everybody is thinking about the next person. It’s not always the case, but the films that I’ve worked on it’s been that way, and it’s amazing. It makes you want to work harder…”

Rick Yune (1971) American actor

On working on a film with a language barrier amongst the crew in “Exclusive Interview With Rick Yune On The Man With The Iron Fists” https://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/interview-rick-yune-man-iron-fists/ in We Got This Covered (2012)

People, Making love, Beauty, Way

“One was my movement, which I’m very conscious of in films, especially coming from martial arts. Think about how many times a character is seen just sitting or walking or standing, it’s a lot of time in film and it says so much about a character. So I’ve always been keen to pay attention to movement and that was one thing he said he noticed. Never have I heard a director talk like that about me. And also he said that the eyes were important because it really has to come through the make-up. So he was interested in those two aspects especially…”

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (1950) American actor

On being chosen for the role of Krull in Planet of the Apes in “Comic-Con 2001: An Interview With Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa” http://fanboyplanet.com/comic-con-2001-an-interview-with-cary-hiroyuki-tagawa/ in Fanboy Planet (2001 Jul 27)

Making love, Art, Thinking, Time

“I am devastated at the loss of one of my very dearest friends. Adam and I had a special friendship for more than 50 years. We shared some of the most fun times of our lives together; our families have deep love and respect for each other. This is a terribly unexpected loss of my lifelong friend, I will forever miss him. There are several fine actors who have portrayed Batman in films, in my eyes there was only one real Batman and that is and always will be Adam West; He was truly the Bright Knight.”

Adam West (1928–2017) American actor

Burt Ward, Hollywood Reacts to Adam West's Death http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/hollywood-reacts-adam-wests-death-a-sweet-nutty-guy-1012217 (June 10, 2017)

Love, Friendship, Making love, Family

“The skills I had learned for prose didn’t work in film. Those telling details, they’re completely different. Or the fact of these inner monologues in which you can write a whole book. Whereas prose is teasing out, film is stripping down, concentrating and compacting. I found I could not learn the one while doing the other. So it was a big struggle, actually. It took me years.”

Tsitsi Dangarembga (1959) Zimbabwean author and filmmaker

On adjusting to film writing in “An Interview with Tsitsi Dangarembga: An excerpt” https://brickmag.com/an-interview-with-tsitsi-dangarembga/ in Brick Magazine (December 2012)

Books, Learning

“The historical significance of the Proclamation is not so much that it enacted the emancipation of people of African descent; on the contrary, it was a military strategy. But if we examine the meaning of this historical moment we might better be able to grasp the failures as well as the successes of emancipation. I have thought that perhaps we were not asked to reflect on the significance of the Emancipation Proclamation because we might realize that we were never really emancipated. But anyway, at least we may be able to understand the dialectics of emancipation; because we still live the popular myth that Lincoln freed the slaves and that this continues to be perpetuated in popular culture, even by the film Lincoln.”

Angela Davis (1944) American political activist, scholar, and author

Lincoln did not free the slaves. We also live with the myth that the mid-twentieth century Civil Rights Movement freed the second-class citizens. Civil rights, of course, constitute an essential element of the freedom that was demanded at that time, but it was not the whole story.
Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Closures and Continuities (2013)

People, Failure, Understanding, Success

“We film Suits in Toronto and I might just stay in Canada. I mean come on, if that’s the reality we are talking about, come on, that is a game changer in terms of how we move in the world here.”

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (1981) American former actress and member by marriage of the British royal family

Speaking as to the then-hypothetical Trump presidency on a panel about Donald Trump on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore in 2016
Prior to royal marriage, Criticisms of Donald Trump

World, Game, Reality

“Here’s my attitude, and I’m sort of sorry to say this sometimes – but there are people who try and elevate film music - of all kinds – to being the great twentieth century classical music, and my opinion is it just isn’t. It’s very straightforward, major/minor or modal writing. The only time you get any kind of originality is usually in the timbres and the sounds and the mixture of elements. But to get through a scene it’s either happy, or sad – and it’s either going forward in action or it’s not – and it can be ironic, which means you’ve got to switch from major to minor frequently. But it’s not rocket science. It’s a lot of skills – a lot of political skills, frankly. It’s being in a room and playing off fifty opinions from studios, producers, directors, sometimes actors – and coming out the end with something that vaguely represents music. And frequently it doesn’t. The minute you try to get original or break the box – unless you’ve got either a very experimental or powerful director, it’s probably not going to happen.”

Graeme Revell (1955) New Zealand musician

Happiness, People, Sadness, Music

“He was most helpful since I was very new when we started work on the film. Initially, I was a little distant but being a romantic film topped with large doses of comedy, it was important for us to build a rapport. Salman went out of his way to break the ice & we became very cordial. In person he is very different from the image that is portrayed of him and what I learnt about him in this short span, is that he is highly misunderstood.”

Salman Khan (1965) Indian film actor

Priyanka Chopra
Actresses Talk About Salman
Source: http://www.india-forums.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=476977

Way, Distant, Help, Personality

“The piece was opinion, the news was fact captured on film.”

Jonah Goldberg (1969) American political writer and pundit

Twitter post https://twitter.com/JonahNRO/status/1159984641962631170 (9 August 2019) 2010s, 2019

“Currently, in this phase of much work, it is the lack of men. There is a lot of demand for films but few are really able to stay on a set and perform this profession. Instead, there are so many girls, also because of the short professional life of an actress.”

Rocco Siffredi (1964) Italian pornographic actor, director, producer and entrepreneur

Interview by Andrea Di Marcantonio

Life, Men, Girl

“The hard has become a real industry; he thinks that ten thousand films are produced in the United States and as many in Europe.”

Rocco Siffredi (1964) Italian pornographic actor, director, producer and entrepreneur

Interview by Andrea Di Marcantonio

Thinking

“He was the only player I saw who the manager never had a go at. We all went to a film premiere and were told to wear black ties. Eric turned up in a cream lemon suit with Nike trainers. The manager told him that he looked fantastic!”

Eric Cantona (1966) French actor and association football player

http://www.insideworldsoccer.com/2009/10/fergie-never-had-go-at-cantona-andy.html
Andy Cole, former Manchester United teammate of Cantona.

“I did not make this film about Frank Abagnale because of what he did.. but because of what he has done with his life the past 30 years.”

Frank W. Abagnale (1948) American security consultant, former confidence trickster, check forger, impostor, and escape artist

Steven Spielberg Abagnale & Associates - Home, 2008-10-12, Webmaster, Abagnale & Associates http://www.abagnale.com/index2.asp,

Life, Making love, Past

“My dad was aware that some of his later films were less than Citizen Kane, but he always put his heart into his work and loved his fans. He told me that if even one person gets enjoyment of his work then he’s done his job. I wanted to personally thank you for the very nice way you remember him, if you ever met him you would know he was just a real sweet man.”

John Agar (1921–2002) American actor

John G. Agar III, [http://drgangrene.blogspot.com/2011/02/conversation-with-john-agar-iii.html A Conversation with John Agar III

Love, Making love, Way, Heart

“It isn’t that I object to it. I just feel it’s the wrong adjective as applied to the films I do. Because horror to me is, say, a film like The Godfather.”

Peter Cushing (1913–1994) English actor

Or anything to do with war, which is real and can happen, and unfortunately, no doubt, will happen again some time. But the films that dear Christopher Lee and I do are really fantasy. And I think fantasy is a better adjective to use. I don’t object to the term horror, it’s just the wrong adjective! Peter Cushing Interview 1973 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p048plh0 (1973)

Feeling

Sergio Leone (1929–1989) Italian film director, screenwriter and producer

Quotes

“Photography is more than a means of recording the obvious. It is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever, whether it be a face or a flower, a place or a thing, a day or a moment. The camera is a perfect companion. It makes no demands, imposes no obligations. It becomes your notebook and your reference library, your microscope and your telescope. It sees what you are too lazy or too careless to notice, and it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.”

Aaron Siskind (1903–1991) American photographer

Aaron Sussman, cited in: The Amateur Photographer's Handbook, (1973), p. vi
Sussman, Aaron. The Amateur Photographer's Handbook. Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1973.

Love, Making love, Way, Feeling

“With all awards and accolades at the international level and his outstanding contribution to classical music, his appeal was not restricted to purists or the elite connoisseur. He endeared himself to the public at large by his tasteful rendering of light music and film songs.”

M. Balamuralikrishna (1930–2016) Carnatic vocalist, instrumentalist and playback singer

Jayalalithaa in: Balamuralikrishna deserves Bharat Ratna: Jayalalithaa http://www.hindu.com/2005/07/26/stories/2005072617030500.htm, Thee Hindu, 26 Jul y 2005.

Music, Light

“He was one of the earliest South Indian Classical w:MusiciansMusicians to perform abroad. He has acted in films, sung for films and even scored the music for films. Apart from his own compositions numbering more than two hundred, he has breathed life into compositions of other composers whose original tunes were lost in the sands of time like w:Narayana TeerthaNarayana Theertha, Annammaachaarya, Purandara Daasa, Kaiwara Amara Nareyana, Kaiwara Amara Nareyana, Sadasiva Brahmendra, Bhadraachala Raamadaas and Maharajah Sri Swathi Thirunal.”

M. Balamuralikrishna (1930–2016) Carnatic vocalist, instrumentalist and playback singer

Prince Rama Varma in: "Murali And Me: A tribute by Prince Rama Varma".

Life, Music, Time

“The magnificent baritone was not merely a voice. It was an orchestra of enormous range and power, its graceful sound seemed to linger on for millions who had heard it on film and stage. Homer must have known someone very much like Richard Burton.”

Richard Burton (1925–1984) Welsh actor

Gerald Clarke, in Show Business: The Mellifluous Prince of Disorder http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,954366,00.html, 20 August 1984

“If any screen actress of recent times had ruled the film scene with the sway and swagger of a fabled queen it was surely Vyjayanthimala, the volatile, vibrant and the most gorgeous star of Hindi screen.”

Vyjayanthimala (1936) Indian actress, politician & dancer

In [Lipika, http://books.google.com/books?id=_wvlAAAAMAAJ, 1973, 26]

Star, Time

“I was told when he died he was listening to Jab Dil Hi Toot Gaya, which I thought was far-fetched, because Saigal never liked his film songs, just his Ghalib compositions. But it was dramatic, so we used it. So imagine my surprise, when after a show in Delhi, a lady came up to me and said she was the niece, Durgesh, seen in that death scene, and her uncle had indeed listened to that song on his deathbed.”

K. L. Saigal (1904–1947) Indian actor

By M Syed Alam in "A tribute to KL Saigal."

Death, Imagination

“He produced, directed, processed and did everything to make the first Indian feature film Raja Harishchandra. Unlike most film makers of those days, Phalke did not have the westernized audience in mind. His vision was to use the medium to narrate an Indian story to the audience.”

Dadasaheb Phalke (1870–1944) Indian producer-director-screenwriter

In [Khandekar, Vanita Kohli-, The Indian Media Business, http://books.google.com/books?id=1C4nAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA176, 3 October 2013, SAGE Publications, 978-81-321-1788-9, 176]

Making love

“He brought the first movie camera from Germany, but nobody knows what happened to it afterwards. Maybe it is lying with some antique collector. There were absolutely no film-making facilities - production or distribution - available as people believed films had no future. But, whatever he did from scratch set a precedent for the future generations of film-makers.”

Dadasaheb Phalke (1870–1944) Indian producer-director-screenwriter

His grandson Kiran Phalke in "Dadasaheb Phalke's family wants Bharat Ratna for him".

People, Making love, Lying, Future

“We are not mere friends, but more than two brothers. We met more than 50 years ago and we share a very beautiful bond between us. We worked together for films and immensely popular discs like Call of the Valley.”

Hariprasad Chaurasia (1938) Indian bansuri player

Shiv Kumar in "A step forward in promotion of classical music".

Beauty

“Rahman is a genius and has made the world sit up and take notice of Indian talent with his success. He has put the Indian film industry on the world map.”

A. R. Rahman (1966) Indian singer and composer

Asha Bhonsle's comments.
Film fraternity hails Rahman, Pookutty for win

World, Success

“Commended, multi-talented and innovative Rahman for bringing East and West closer through music and for making the world look at Indian film music more seriously. Diversity of his styles and themes was appealing to different sections of the society.”

A. R. Rahman (1966) Indian singer and composer

Rajan Zed in “Hollywood calling Rehman”.

World, Making love, Music

“The celebrated Hindi film actress has a cult of personality surrounding her that is unparalleled among other actresses and is often the subject of particularly fascinating urban legend.”

Rekha (1954) Indian film actress

Susan Dewey in [Dewey, Susan, Making Miss India Miss World: Constructing Gender, Power, and the Nation in Postliberalization India, http://books.google.com/books?id=-WamxY5bQtIC&pg=PA111, 2008, Syracuse University Press, 978-0-8156-3176-7, 111–]

Personality

“Rekha fashioned herself as an actress with a signature look very different from her early years as a struggling actress. This transformation was often referred to as as that of an ugly duckling. In interviews and film magazines Rekha claimed that she had achieved this by changing her lifestyle, healthy eating practices, and doing yoga. Soon she had inspired a whole fashion trend and had film magazines raving about her affair with Amitab Bachhan. Such publicity added to her image as a symbol of seduction and glamour. She was seen as a woman who could challenge patriarchal norms by remaining single and being famous.”

Rekha (1954) Indian film actress

Editor Manju Jain in [Jain, Manju, Narratives of Indian Cinema, http://books.google.com/books?id=ORE9TDOoU1IC&pg=PA187, 2009, Primus Books, 978-81-908918-4-4, 187–]

Fashion, Change

“Lata Mangeshkar is known to have been a sympathiser of the Hindutva ideology. In fact, she was a sympathiser of the pro-Hindu Mahasabha, which is a hardcore rightist organisation. Despite that she was given various awards by governments of varying political hues only and only for her mind-boggling contribution to film music.”

Lata Mangeshkar (1929) Indian singer

Strip Lata Mangeshkar of Padma, Bharat Ratna awards, says Congress leader Janardhan Chandurkar, 29 November 2013, DNA India http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-strip-lata-mangeshkar-of-padma-bharat-ratna-awards-says-congress-leader-janardhan-chandurkar-1918239,

Music

“Manikda was always different from the others. He did everything — from writing the script to choosing the location, finalizing the cast to designing sets and costumes, supervising make-up to framing the shots to editing. He was involved with each and every part of his film and was always very clear about what he wanted. His films were Indian but the production process was western. He also proved that silence can say a million words if used properly and was very economical with dialogues. He used barking of dogs, birdcalls, mechanical clatter or other natural sounds to brilliant effect. It was because of this detailing that every scene of his films became powerful and meaningful. And though he played so many roles behind the scenes, he accepted remuneration from the producer only for direction.”

Satyajit Ray (1921–1992) Indian author, poet, composer, lyricist, filmmaker

After working with Satyajit Ray, working in Bombay was confusing: Sharmila Tagore

Making love, Dogs, Nature, Silence

“Oh, Mr. Ray is coming … the great film maker from India; you know, I am his fan and love his films; maybe I will be lucky to get to see him today; just start your car and follow me.”

Satyajit Ray (1921–1992) Indian author, poet, composer, lyricist, filmmaker

A police officer in Washington D.C quoted during one of Manikda’s visit in 1977 quoted in 29 March 2011, 13 December 2013, Times of India http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-03-29/cinema/29356975_1_magic-moments-satyajit-ray-international-film-festival,

Love, Making love, Cars

“Ray was a terrific director! He was versatile in choosing the subjects of his film. And his films were very sophisticated, very clean. I got some idea about India from his films.”

Satyajit Ray (1921–1992) Indian author, poet, composer, lyricist, filmmaker

Idea

“Even ten years back, Indian film producers may not have thought of this scale, as there is a business logic to this new model aided by neo-liberal economic policies; when films are available on DVDs alongside Internet-based web interface, the first two weeks box-office collections make all the difference.”

Rajinikanth (1950) Indian actor

Professor Harish
Decoding Rajinikanth

Making love, Business, Box

“His performance, his involvement in the film, was unforgettable. During the 90-day schedule, the entire unit was on a kind of vrat, abstaining from cigarettes and non-vegetarian food. We took the script first to Mantralayam, the abode of the saint, and got it blessed. We did the same thing again with the first copy.”

Rajinikanth (1950) Indian actor

Rajini acts in front of the camera, never behind it' (22 December 1999)

Food

“He then did Sri Raghavendra, a saintly role completely at variance to his usual flamboyance. And the idea came from Rajini himself. He is a devotee of the saint. He took the idea to K Balachander (KB, as he is known) who produced the film. I directed it.”

Rajinikanth (1950) Indian actor

Rajini acts in front of the camera, never behind it' (22 December 1999)

Idea

“Twenty-five years in the industry for him, 25 films with him for me… It gives me great pleasure to realise that I too have had some small role to play in his success.”

Rajinikanth (1950) Indian actor

Rajini acts in front of the camera, never behind it' (22 December 1999)

Pleasure, Success

“No one component of a film can have any meaning in isolation: it is the film that is the work of art.”

Andrei Tarkovsky book Sculpting in Time

And we can only talk about its components rather arbitrarily, dividing it up artificially or the sake of theoretical discussion.
Source: Sculpting in Time (1986), p. 114

Art

“On those rare occasions when a great motion picture reaches multiplexes, the film critic must add another aspect to his or her job description: that of cheerleader. It is incumbent upon those of us who routinely dissect movies to applaud the arrival of something like Minority Report.”

James Berardinelli (1967) American film critic

Writing a review isn't enough — we have to get out there and actively stump for the movie. The underlying reason is sound: if Minority Report makes a lot of money, the studios will be encouraged to fashion more films of this sort. And that is a good thing — not just for science fiction lovers but for fans of intelligent, thought-provoking pictures of all genres. Review http://www.reelviews.net/movies/m/minority_report.html of Minority Report (2002). Four star reviews

“For me, a director is more important than a big banner. A great director can do wonders. Of course, banners do matter because, ultimately, after all the hard work you put it, the film must release. This will happen only if you work with a good banner or a producer who markets your film well, gives the director whatever he wants, and releases the film.”

Rani Mukerji (1978) Indian film actress

[rediff.com, Fame, http://www.rediff.com/movies/2003/jun/12rani.htm, 23 August, 2006]
The Actress' Take On Films

“Yes. Women characters are once again assuming significance in films. Karan Johar, Sanjay Bhansali and Yash uncle conceive wonderful women characters. In the ’50s and ’60s, Bimal Roy and Guru Duttji wrote beautiful roles for heroines. You couldn’t take your eyes off a close-up of Waheedaji, Nargisji, Nutanji or Meenaji. Times are changing again. The Bhansali-shot close-ups of Ash and Madhuri in Devdas were awesome.”

Rani Mukerji (1978) Indian film actress

citation needed
The Actress' Take On Films

Women, Beauty, Change, Time

“Films of the mating behavior of most other species — a staple of public television of America — demonstrate that the female chooses.”

Camille Paglia (1947) American writer

Males pursue, show off, brawl, scuffle, and make general fools of themselves for love. A major failing of most feminist ideology is its dumb, ungenerous stereotyping of men as tyrants and abusers, when in fact — as I know full well from my own mortifying lesbian experience — men are tormented by women’s flirtatiousness and hemming and hawing, their manipulations and changeableness, their humiliating rejections. Cock teasing is a universal reality. It is part of women’s merciless testing and cold-eyed comparison shopping for potential mates. Men will do anything to win the favor of women.
Source: Vamps and Tramps (1994), "No Law in the Arena: A Pagan Theory of Sexuality", p. 35

Behavior

“Lyrics for songs written for the film; the music for the songs composed by Ennio Morricone.”

Joan Baez (1941) American singer

Sacco e Vanzetti (1971)

Music

“Film has dream, film has music. No form of art goes beyond ordinary consciousness as film does, straight to our emotions, deep into the twilight room of the soul. A little twitch in our optic nerve, a shock effect: twenty-four illuminated frames in a second, darkness in between, the optic nerve incapable of registering darkness. At the editing table, when I run the trip of film through, frame by frame, I still feel that dizzy sense of magic of my childhood: in the darkness of the wardrobe, I slowly wind one frame after another, see almost imperceptible changes, wind faster — a movement.”

Ingmar Bergman book Laterna Magica

Laterna Magica (1987); The Magic Lantern : An Autobiography as translated by Joan Tate (1988).
Variant translation: Film as dream, film as music. No art passes our conscience in the way film does, and goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls.
As quoted in "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye" by John Berger, Sight and Sound (June 1991).

Dreams, Art, Music, Feeling

“We knew each other. We talked. We passed each other going to the set of our own films. We were doing our jobs. We had great mutual respect.”

Greta Garbo (1905–1990) Swedish-American actress

Lillian Gish

“Today this young woman -The Garbo as she is known - is the most glamorous figure in the whole world; there is no one with a more magnetic, romantic or exotic personality, there never has been a film star with so wide an appeal… Greta Garbo is Queen of Hollywood, her salary is fabulous, her word law. She has pointed features in a round face, her mouth is wide and knife-like. Her teeth are large and square and like evenly matched pearls; her eyes are pale, with lashes so long that when she lowers her lids they strike her cheeks; her complexion is of an unearthly whiteness and so delicate that she looks to have one layer of skin less than other people, and the suspicion of a frown is sooner perceptible.”

Greta Garbo (1905–1990) Swedish-American actress

Cecil Beaton, Book of Beauty (1930) Source: http://www.garboforever.com/Beatons_Book_of_Beauty.htm

People, World, Law, Star

“I watched an old American submarine movie on television. The creaking plot had the captain and first officer constantly at each other’s throat. The submarine was a fossil, and one guy had claustrophobia. But all that didn’t stop everything from working out well in the end. It was an everything-works-out-in-the-end-so-maybe-war’s-not-so-bad-after-all sort of film. One of these days they’ll be making a film where the whole human race gets wiped out in a nuclear war, but everything works out in the end.”

Haruki Murakami (1949) Japanese author, novelist

A Wild Sheep Chase: A Novel (1982)

War, Bad luck, Making love, Guy

“That Muretto di Alassio by Mario Berrino is a beautiful color film.”

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist

Domenica del Corriere, 1973

Beauty, Color

“If the First Amendment means anything, it means that a State has no business telling a man, sitting alone in his own house, what books he may read or what films he may watch. Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men's minds.”

Thurgood Marshall (1908–1993) Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court

Writing for the court, Stanley v. Georgia, 394 U.S. 557 (1969)

Men, Books, Business, Reading

“It’s a very bourgeois industry. There’s resistance to radicalism, and also less youth in charge. ‘A film can be feminist?’ They don’t know this concept. They don’t read the book. They don’t even know about the fact that ‘male gaze’ exists. You can tell it’s a country where there’s a lot of sexism, and a strong culture of patriarchy.”

Céline Sciamma (1978) French director and screenwriter

On the tepid reception of her film Portrait of a Lady on Fire in France in “Céline Sciamma: 'In France, they don’t find the film hot. They think it lacks flesh, it’s not erotic'” https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/feb/21/celine-sciamma-portrait-of-a-lady-on-fire in The Guardian (2020 Feb 21)

Books, Youth, Strong, Reading

“Paradoxically, we are in a golden age of books, documentaries, and films that... expose the abuses, crimes and authoritarian essence of corporate commercialism. ...[N]ever ...have they had less impact for change.”

Ralph Nader (1934) American consumer rights activist and corporate critic

Breaking Through Power (2016)

Books, Age, Change

“I want to make films that are about visual pleasure for women. Not worry about whether they are in fashion, whether they are politically correct.”

Anna Biller (1965) film director

Under the Influence: Anna Biller on DONKEY SKIN - 14 Feb 2017, at 4 Min 02 Sec https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD9MrwcE7o8 From interview with The Criterion Collection

Women, Pleasure, Making love, Fashion

“We are Lao people, we can make whatever film we want to make as Lao people. We don't have to make that film that everyone expects us to make.”

Mattie Do (1981) Laotian film director

『永遠の散歩』Q&A マティー・ドー | "The Long Walk[Bor Mi Vanh Chark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfFCgPzBUag" Q&A Mattie Do (Director) - 7 Nov 2019, at 23 Min 27 Sec] From Tokyo International Film Festival Q&A

People, Making love

“The last scene came really, really early, disconnected from even the idea of a woman painter…I wanted to write a love story and I thought, ‘What do I want to tell?’ And that scene came up really, really quickly, alone, by itself. The weird compass of the film was its last scene. That’s a compass, but it’s a high pressure one.”

Céline Sciamma (1978) French director and screenwriter

On her creative process for Portrait of a Lady on Fire in “‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’ Filmmaker Céline Sciamma Is Trying to Break Your Heart” https://www.indiewire.com/2019/12/portrait-of-a-lady-on-fire-filmmaker-celine-sciamma-interview-1202193537/ in IndieWire (2019 Dec 05)

Love, Making love, Idea

“I say this about everything: when I was on Neighbours I said, 'These are the best years of my life!' When I was filming 'The Wolf of Wall Street,' I said, 'These are the best months of my life!'”

Margot Robbie (1990) Australian actress

I always think I'm having the best time ever, and that I'll never have so much fun again. Nojan Aminosharei, “There's something about Margot” https://www.elle.com.au/culture/theres-something-about-margot-7683, Elle, (Mar 25, 2014).

Life, Wolf

“When I decided to make the film [Blue Is the Warmest Colour], I knew that it was going to be hard. I think I wanted that. I wanted to see how it was to go this far. […] Of course it was kind of humiliating sometimes, I was feeling like a prostitute. […] [Kechiche] was using three cameras, and when you have to fake your orgasm for six hours... I can't say that it was nothing. But for me it is more difficult to show my feelings than my body.”

Léa Seydoux (1985) French actress

"Blue is the Warmest Colour actresses on their lesbian sex scenes: 'We felt like prostitutes'" https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/blue-is-the-warmest-colour-actresses-on-their-lesbian-sex-scenes-we-felt-like-prostitutes-8856909.html, The Independent (4 October 2013).

Making love, Feeling, Thinking

“I think that the best of artists are androgynous in a sense. If a man is a very macho male, I don't know whether he'll make a very good director, he may make a very good craftsman. Or if a woman is a very sort of typically feminine woman, I don't think she will make a very good film. She has to have a bit of both.”

Aparna Sen (1945) Indian filmmaker, script writer and actress

Rendezvous with Simi Garewal, Rendezvous with Simi Garewal - Aparna Sen & Konkana Sen - 24 Mar 2014 (First Broadcast 2003), at 7 Min 51 Sec https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkkOKmyld5k

Making love, Thinking, Sense

“Coming from that small town and watching films made me like travel in my space and appreciate being part of a bigger world and exercise emotions that you don't get to exercise when you are coming from a small town.”

Haifaa al-Mansour (1974) Saudi Arabian film director

Cinema Cafe at 2020 Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Institute - 31 Jan 2020, at 17 Min 50 Sec https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwwCbpp_GkI

World, Travel, Exercises, Parting

“I try to be respectful of the culture. I try to tell a story and maintain my voice as empowering women, but I tell it softly. I'm not a person who is like a radical or something like that and I don't try to clash with the culture. I try to tell an intimate story and bring people and hopefully change their perspective on film and they see film puts a human face on the culture rather than like expose it.”

Haifaa al-Mansour (1974) Saudi Arabian film director

Wadjda: Haifaa al Mansour on becoming Saudi Arabia's first female feature film director, The Guardian - 16 Jul 2013, at 0 Min 29 Sec https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFAwZdvRij4

Women, People, Change, Personality

“Seven Beauties was a film that nobody wanted to make, because it talks about a concentration camp. It is a true story. I managed to convince Lina [Wertmüller] to make it and it has been nominated for four Oscars.”

Giancarlo Giannini (1942) Italian actor, voice actor, director and screenwriter

Original: (it) Pasqualino Settebellezze era un film che non voleva far nessuno, perché parla di un campo di concentramento. È una storia vera. Sono riuscito a convincere Lina [Wertmüller] a farlo e ha avuto quattro candidature all'Oscar. From the interview by Silvia Bizio "Il cinema è morto? Me lo diceva già Fellini" https://rep.repubblica.it/pwa/intervista/2019/02/15/news/giancarlo_giannini-219224198/?refresh_ce , Rep.repubblica.it, (February 15 2019). https://rep.repubblica.it/pwa/intervista/2019/02/15/news/giancarlo_giannini-219224198/?refresh_ce

Making love, Beauty

“The problem with doing a schlocky or big budget studio film is that it wouldn't actually be fun for me. It wouldn't be exciting.”

David Cronenberg (1943) Canadian film director, screenwriter and actor

on mainstream Hollywood films

Problem

“…When we see a film, half of what we see is what we bring to it…”

Alfre Woodard (1952) American film, stage, and television actress

On how audiences receive a film (such as the film 12 Years a Slave in which Woodard starred in) in “In Praise of the One-Scene Performance: An Interview with Alfre Woodard” https://www.popmatters.com/176250-in-praise-of-the-one-scene-performance-an-interview-with-alfre-wooda-2495711026.html in Pop Matters (2013 Nov 7)

“…as an actor, trying to do the best you can on a film, you think, do I say thank you or fuck you?”

Alfre Woodard (1952) American film, stage, and television actress

On how, in one project that she worked on, other actors were given more takes than Woodard in “In Praise of the One-Scene Performance: An Interview with Alfre Woodard” https://www.popmatters.com/176250-in-praise-of-the-one-scene-performance-an-interview-with-alfre-wooda-2495711026.html in Pop Matters (2013 Nov 7)

Thinking

“I never really liked too much attention, which can be good and bad, if someone gives me a compliment it just goes in one ear and out the other, and if someone says something really horrible it’s the same. I just learned not to value my self-esteem and who I am as a person on the popularity of a film or how famous I am at the time. I guess I had the perspective of how it can be there one time and not another. And life is the most exciting part, really living, you know?”

Liv Tyler (1977) American actress, producer and former model

Liv Tyler On Her Iconic Career, Living Through Fame And The Importance Of Female Friendship http://www.oystermag.com/2018/11/liv-tyler-on-her-iconic-career-living-through-fame-and-the-importance-of-female-friendship-for-oyster-115/ (November 28, 2018)

Life, Bad luck, Learning, Time

“It could have been extremely boring to write musical scores for only westerns of horror films. It was really exciting for me to work in all these various genres.”

Ennio Morricone (1928–2020) Italian composer, orchestrator and conductor

Music

“There are some directors who actually fear the possible success of music. They fear that the audience or the critics will think the film has worked because there was a very good music score.”

Ennio Morricone (1928–2020) Italian composer, orchestrator and conductor

Fear, Music, Thinking, Success

“I never took any courses. I think I might have taken a very basic one at some point during film school. I think it was a required class you had to take, and I think they went over the format a little bit. Other than that, I never took any writing courses or screenwriting courses or anything like that. I just tried to read as much as possible.”

Aaron Guzikowski (1974) American screenwriter

School, Thinking, Reading

“Realising just how hard it is to get a meaningful role for a heroine in the south. I haven’t signed as many films as I’d like to because there are no good roles. As disheartening as it is to say.”

Samantha Akkineni (1987) Indian actress

"No meaningful roles for a heroine in south: Samantha" https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/No-meaningful-roles-for-a-heroine-in-south-Samantha/article14985421.ece. The Hindu. (September 17, 2016).

“I am done with the clichéd heroine roles. I can’t go to work without a challenge. I want to do films that drive me, films in which I am a part of the main plot.”

Samantha Akkineni (1987) Indian actress

"Samantha: I am done with clichéd heroine roles" https://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/Samantha-I-am-done-with-clich%C3%A9d-heroine-roles/article14378258.ece. The Hindu. (May 31, 2016).

Parting

“Every safety measure has been taken, and I know I’m in good hands. The important thing for an actor or performer is to get constant visibility; now with films being stalled, this is the perfect opportunity for us to impress audiences every day. After the show, I will make my Bollywood debut, and down south, I really hope I get a chance to work with Vijay Sethupathi sir.”

Nikki Tamboli (1996) Indian Actress

Bigg Boss 14: Nikki Tamboli wants to work with Vijay Sethupathi after reality show

Making love, Hope, Chance, Perfection

“It is very difficult to edit something that I direct. It’s having to remake decisions that I’ve already made on set and now have to undo or reimagine. I always warn Directors sitting down with me to edit not to watch the film and footage too much. The ability to have fresh eyes and be able to watch the movie as a viewer is the most valuable tool a director has.”

Misty Talley American film director and editor

Source: The Shark Lady: An Interview with Misty Talley https://www.bigeasymagazine.com/2019/07/01/the-shark-lady-an-interview-with-misty-talley/ (July 1, 2019)

Decision

“Never quit. You can’t wait for yourself to happen, you have to go out there and make it happen. If you truly believe in something you can make it happen. Get a good agent. They cost money, but that’s your first step. Your first film opportunities will most likely not be big, but that’s how you’re discovered by others. Eventually a director or a casting director will see you in a minor film/commercial/broadway, etc. and you’ll get your big break. Always be polite and professional. There are often many, many other people auditioning for the same part as you. If you’re not polite or professional they won’t even waste their time with you.”

Mackenzie Rosman (1989) American actress

Source: Mack’s Fan’s Questions & Answers http://mackrosman.net/press-release (March 19, 2008)

Money, People, Making love, Time

“There was such a dearth of films like that…And the high-school teen movie is a genre that I love. Everything at that age is so heightened and dramatic, and high-school movies capture that so perfectly. But those films are all white, too; there’s no black teen movie genre that exists in the same way.”

Issa Rae (1985) American actress and writer

On how she didn’t see herself represented in the teen film genre in “Issa Rae: ‘I’ve not started writing season four of Insecure yet. We needed a break’” https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/apr/13/issa-rae-interview-insecure-little in The Guardian (2019 Apr 13)

Love, Age, Making love, School

“You get to contribute so significantly in the editing room because you shape the movie and the performances," she says. "You help the director bring all the hard work of those who made the film to fruition. You give their work rhythm and pace and sometimes adjust the structure to make the film work – to make it start to flow up there on the screen. And then it's very rewarding after a year's work to see people react to what you've done in the theater.”

Thelma Schoonmaker (1940) American film editor

iVillage Entertainment, The Last Temptation of Thelma, Lan N., Nguyen, March 15, 2005, dead, https://web.archive.org/web/20061022085303/http://entertainment.ivillage.com/features/0,,7hghlrfw,00.html, October 22, 2006, mdy-all http://entertainment.ivillage.com/features/0,,7hghlrfw,00.html,

People, Making love, Help

“The people who are involved in the development of making films and television are not necessarily the most imaginative of people, to be honest. Well, they're not! I'm not being generically rude. But it's just a fact.”

Robbie Coltrane (1950–2022) Scottish actor

Source: Robbie Coltrane: 'I take no nonsense' https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/nov/09/robbie-coltrane-interview-great-expectations (9 November 2012)

People, Making love, Imagination

“Why should films not be used for Irish-Ireland purposes and for the proper appreciation of scenery and beauty?”

Timothy Quill (1901–1960) Early Dáil member, cooperative organiser, agriculturalist

Irish Independent (1943)
By Quill:, 1940s

Beauty

“I do think that our perception of reality is fragmentary, and in 20th-century literature, it's totally normal to not describe reality as something whole and completely transportable and explicable. That's been accepted in novels. But genre films always pretend that reality is transportable, which means that it is explicable.”

Michael Haneke (1942) Austrian film director and screenwriter

Lawrence, Chua. "Michael Haneke" http://bombsite.com/issues/80/articles/2489, BOMB Magazine, Summer, 2002. Retrieved 29 July 2011.

Literature, Thinking, Reality

“Film is 24 lies per second at the service of truth, or at the service of the attempt to find the truth.”

Michael Haneke (1942) Austrian film director and screenwriter

[Ignoramous, Lamos, Watch "24 Realities Per Second" Michael Haneke Documentary, http://filmslie.com/24-realities-per-second-michael-haneke-documentary/, FilmsLie.com, 10 August 2016]

Truth

“Pornography, it seems to me, is no different from war films or propaganda films in that it tries to make the visceral, horrific, or transgressive elements of life consumable. Propaganda is far more pornographic than a home video of two people fucking.”

Michael Haneke (1942) Austrian film director and screenwriter

[Christopher Sharrett, http://www.kinoeye.org/04/01/interview01.php, Austrian film: Michael Haneke interviewed, Kinoeye, 20 September 2011]

Life, War, People, Making love

“My films are intended as polemical statements against the American 'barrel down' cinema and its dis-empowerment of the spectator. They are an appeal for a cinema of insistent questions instead of false (because too quick) answers, for clarifying distance in place of violating closeness, for provocation and dialogue instead of consumption and consensus.”

Michael Haneke (1942) Austrian film director and screenwriter

From "Film as catharsis". Haneke, Michael – "Film als Katharsis": in Austria (in)felix: zum österreichischem Film der 80er Jahre – Bono, Francesco (ed.), 1992. ISBN 3-901272-00-3

Question, Falseness

“As a film composer it's not your symphony. You know, that's one of the things you have to get over right away; that you are, as you say, a hired gun. You know, you can inject a lot of yourself into it, but the bottom-line is that you are working for other people. The ideal situation is where you make you happy and you make them happy, and that's usually what happens. But, yeah, ultimately you are answering to someone else and the sooner you figure that out, the longer you'll be around.”

Jeff Danna (1964) film composer

Jeff Danna Interview https://www.ign.com/articles/2004/08/28/jeff-danna-interview (27 August 2004)

Happiness, People, Making love

“a lot of actors, we create a backstory of our own in our heads and we often relate it to our intimates in the film, say my husband. But it just depends on how actors want to work.”

Freda Foh Shen (1948) American actress

Freda Foh Shen for BOOKS OF BLOOD https://www.nightmarishconjurings.com/2020/10/17/interview-freda-foh-shen-for-books-of-blood/ (October 17, 2020)

Relation ships, Dependency

“The roles that Eastwood has played, and the films that he has directed, cannot be disentangled from the nature of the American culture of the last quarter century, its fantasies and its realities.”

Clint Eastwood (1930) actor and director from the United States

Author Edward Gallafent, commenting on Eastwood's impact on film from the 1970s to 1990s
Gallafent, Edward (1994). Clint Eastwood. p. 10. New York: Continuum. ISBN 0826406653.

Nature, Reality

“People always criticize. If they want to, they will find something to criticize. Hey, we all criticize. You like a film or you don’t. It’s up to you. You can’t stop that anyway. That’s part of human nature”

Nancy Kwan (1939) Chinese-American actress and restauranter

How Nancy Kwan Went From Ballet to the Big Screen https://www.shondaland.com/live/a22986681/nancy-kwan-interview/ (September 11, 2018)

People, Nature, Parting

“All the experience I had in television, radio, theater, stage and films gave me confidence in front of crowds. Because of that, I can talk to an audience of a thousand people without a moment's nervousness, and talk without a script for hours.”

Sara Shane (1928–2022) American actress

Interview with Elaine Hollingsworth https://web.archive.org/web/20071003020618/http://www.tarzan.cc/int-sarashane.html (July 9, 2007)

People, Confidence, Self-confidence

“We don't deliberately desire to scare anybody - we design our creatures to fit in harmony with the story and, of course, our forte is the grotesque. That's why our films were classified so many times as horror films, which they weren't. I would call a war film a horror film because in those you see guts split and people being slaughtered, but our films deal with fantasy and are more theatrical than realistic.”

Ray Harryhausen (1920–2013) American animator

Harryhausen on Horror

War, People, Time

“My nightmares are almost always about war - wandering the streets, searching for something that's lost forever. But it's possible for me to will myself to have pleasant dreams. For me, the most wonder fragrance in the world is new film. You open the canister for the first time and breathe deeply. That night, the same wonderful fragrance fills your dreams. It's grand.”

Ishirō Honda (1911–1993) Japanese film director

Honda, interviewed by James Bailey, Tokyo Journal, April 1991

War, World, Dreams, Search

“I am already seeing the crisis reformatting into some artistic statements, there will be plays, maybe films. Definitely theatrical performances. As strange as it sounds, I think that these difficult times have changed arts people, especially in theater and film, who were never fond of social subjects and always tried to keep their distance. And now they jumped right into it because of this difficult situation. And I think there will be only more of that.”

Chulpan Khamatova (1975) Russian actress

As quoted in "“Fostering Leadership”: online talk with Chulpan Khamatova" in Vladimir Potanin Foundation (7 August 2020) https://www.fondpotanin.ru/en/press/news/fostering-leadership-online-talk-with-chulpan-khamatova/

People, Art, Thinking, Change

“Now we are living in the digital age. I feel very lucky and appreciative that young people now have the opportunity of coming to know the kind of films we shot in the past.”

Brigitte Lin (1954) Taiwanese actress

As quoted in "Brigitte Lin, a timeless national treasure" in Taipei Times (15 May 2018) https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2018/05/15/2003693091

People, Age, Feeling, Past

“Feature films are more exciting because you have so much more pressure on you, there’s people all around and you’re in the setting of the film. I definitely enjoy feature films more.”

Dakota Goyo (1999) actor

Interview with “Real Steel” star Dakota Goyo https://lights-camera-jackson.com/interview-with-real-steel-star-dakota-goyo1/ (October 13, 2011)

People

“We're used to the idea that women aren't represented in our culture and media and politics and films. The idea that this extended to what was sold as objective - the idea of medicine and science, that they were also underrepresenting women - was just mind-blowing to me.”

Caroline Criado-Perez (1984) British journalist and author

On how women are ignored in the medical world in “Caroline Criado-Perez On Data Bias And 'Invisible Women'” https://www.npr.org/2019/03/17/704209639/caroline-criado-perez-on-data-bias-and-invisible-women in NPR (2019 Mar 17)

Women, Idea, Science

“I like doing scary parts, death-stares. Being in the film industry I know it's fake.”

Cainan Wiebe (1995) Canadian actor

Cainan Wiebe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LujoHrgs4Qw (February 21, 2011)

Death, Parting

“I don’t make films specifically for Malaysia, but I make films to tell you something about humanity.”

Yasmin Ahmad (1958–2009) Malaysian film director

Yasmin Ahmad retrospective at the Honolulu Academy of Arts hosted by CSEAS (Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Hawai`i) - Podcast: Interview with Malyasian Filmmaker Yasmin Ahmad (with Wimal Dissanayake) at 22 Min 50 Sec http://hdl.handle.net/10125/7235 - 2007 Spring - Archive https://web.archive.org/web/20210821074323/https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/7235 From Yasmin Ahmad

“I never look for trouble, just making a film.”

Yasmin Ahmad (1958–2009) Malaysian film director

Reuters Article by Jalil Hamid - Malaysian filmmaker struggles with hardline Islam https://www.reuters.com/article/us-malaysia-filmmaker-idUSKLR21119520070629 - 29 June 2007 - Archive https://web.archive.org/web/20210821072553/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-malaysia-filmmaker-idUSKLR21119520070629 From Yasmin Ahmad

“I think moviemakers in every country are looking for ideas. It’s interactive. And sometimes we remake a lot of Hollywood films but we don’t buy the rights, we just try to imitate those films.”

Tony Leung (1962) Hong Kong actor

"Lust, Caution – Tony Leung interview" (2007) https://tonyleung.info/tony/?p=237

Idea, Thinking, Country

Quotes about film page 12

Quotes about film
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