Jonas Akerlund Quotes

There was a moment in the early '80s when I wanted to work on films and wanted to live in L.A.

The difficulty of getting a movie made through a major studio is so extreme that when a movie comes out, everyone should give it four stars because it was accomplished.

What I learned from my go-round with 'In the Heights' is that it's tough to make a movie. In Hollywood, even the people in charge have people in charge.

I had a friend in high school who badly wanted to make movies and would recruit me as an actor. It was always so much fun. I decided, I'm going to go to Hollywood and make movies, which is a thought I'd never had before.

I've had nine of my books adapted to film, and almost all were enjoyable. I've been very lucky with Hollywood, and look forward to more movies being adapted. But I don't get involved in that process. I know nothing about making movies and I stay away from it and hope for the best.

Everybody in L.A. has a screenplay. The guy pumping your gas has a screenplay.

Just getting to meet George Lucas was pretty amazing, and then working with him and getting to be part of this process... it's a great responsibility.

It's very hard to get a movie made. You could spend your life reading scripts that never got made.

I've always seen it to be a privilege to make movies. It's a really expensive, creative medium.

Making movies is just as much of a game. They say Hollywood is like high school with money.

You can't get a movie made without a script; it's the blueprint to your building.

I love the process of making films and an incidental satisfaction is the fact that most of them made money.

I was in a very lucky position to be able to consider studio films and had decided to not go that route for a very long time until I read a script that I loved called 'Aeon Flux.'

I don't really make films in Denmark. 'Bronson' was shot in Rottingham, 'Valhalla Rising' was made in Glasgow, and 'Drive' was made in Hollywood.

There's a process in the movie industry in both live action and animation called development hell!

Life in the movie business is like the beginning of a new love affair: it's full of surprises, and you're constantly getting f***ed.

There's a certain time in the core of making a movie from pre-production to halfway through post-production I don't read any project, my agent will tell people that "he's not reading." And then when I know how the movie's probably gonna work halfway into post-production, I'll come along.

Well, this movie I've been working on for a while. I had the idea for the movie like twenty years ago when I was doing 'Empire of the Sun' in 1987 because at that time that's when all these Vietnam movies were being made and my friends and I were going on auditions for these Vietnam movies and my friends were getting them and going away to fake boot camps.

The film industry is so fickle about financing, and it's so difficult to get movies made.

I had a great time working on the movies, both the major movies I've done. I've had a great time. I like the people in Hollywood a lot.

When you're making a movie, you feel like a very small part of something that you really don't have much influence upon. You roll in, you do your thing, and then you're gone.

We've got the prettiest girls in the world here in Los Angeles and there's a great music scene. And I learned what I learned about cinema here in Los Angeles so it's always been really important to me as a city to live in and I love making movies about it.

Hollywood is a deeply odd place. There are so many factors that have to go perfectly, so many schedules and visions that have to snap together for a film even to be made, much less be good.

Making movies is nice, man. A movie with some money behind it? Sweet. So many snacks and stuff. Name-brand. And many different kinds of coffee.

I never really feel like I'm sure a film's gonna happen until I'm maybe halfway through.