Jonathan Levine Quotes

I didn't really know how to make a film when I made 'Control'. I had to create my own language, just as I did when I started taking photographs. I never studied either one.

Many people who have watched 'Pieta' have said my filmmaking has become more objective.

Anyone who does anything creative is always gonna want to change.

Shooting movies has changed, and me too - I have changed. And then, every film I do, something in my mind, my soul, changes. My natural change, I change at the same time as the films, I think.

I went to film school at UT Austin. I learned a lot, and that school's good for puking up all your bad movies early and quick. But ultimately, no one can teach you to be an artist.

Every filmmaker's just going to keep trying to make it the best you can make it: make it as potent and interesting and entertaining and exciting and tough and sexy as you can.

It's incredible to see the creativity, beauty and hardships people capture when filmmaking is opened up and shared with the world.

One of the reasons that I do a lot of different kinds of pictures is because I learn a lot when I'm doing them.

Movie directing is a perfect refuge for the mediocre.

I don't make films to reproduce reality.

I don't really believe in the mystery of cinematography - what happens in the camera is what the cinematographers create and all that nonsense - I want the director to see what I'm trying to do.

I was so young when I started, my taste has changed and developed, and I've gone from being a little bit safe to trying different things.

I am definitely going to continue directing, but I am always going to try to explore new ways of making films. It really is possible to make films in different ways.

There'd be no merit to replicating something, to repeating something. As artists and as musicians, you wanna continue to go in different directions and develop.

You have to force yourself to give up and to move onto something else. That's the way you grow as a writer, by trying new things and tackling new subjects. But it's difficult. There's part of you that doesn't want to give up because you realize that, in some way, you're surrendering.

I think it's important to evolve and make a different record every time as an artist.

My responsibility is to make a film and find my dramatic language; I don't have any political or social responsibility.

It takes great skill to tell a compelling story in under 60 seconds. These five directors have mastered the format, using their talent, craft and imagination to provide us with some of the most innovative filmmaking out there today.

Cinema is a medium that can translate ideas.

My directing style has changed over the years. I allow things to breathe a lot more.

The directing of a picture involves coming out of your individual loneliness and taking a controlling part in putting together a small world. A picture is made. You put a frame around it and move on. And one day you die. That is all there is to it.

In terms of tackling different subjects, I can't really think of anything I wouldn't want to try; that's the fun of it right? Each new style brings new challenges - not that you shouldn't focus on one and master it, but it takes so long to make a film, you just want to have some variety.

I watch 'Goodfellas,' and suddenly it frees me up entirely; it reminds me of what great film directing is all about.

I want to make movies that I want to see, and what I miss and I'm not seeing.

Francois Truffaut was my godfather on 'Sugar Cane Alley.' He believed in me and in that story, and told everyone that it should be made.