John Lee Hancock Quotes

I always like when things are loosely based on real events. That always makes it more interesting because there's a lot of research you can do.

I think it's fair to ask how truthful a film is as opposed to how factual it is.

Sometimes the facts can get in the way of the telling of a good story. But they don't get in the way of the truth.

I feel with this film that as long as we tell Philomena's story and as long as we're true to her, which Jeff and Steve have already done by writing the story... we must not sell her short;. She's a most remarkable woman and all my concern was that we must be absolutely true to her story.

There's always a slight tension when you sell a book to Hollywood, especially a nonfiction book. The author wants his story told intact; the nonfiction author wants it told accurately.

Obviously, I like to write stories that are page-turners. But I always try my very, very hardest to be as factually true as possible.

I do not make stories up, full stop.

My role is to just tell the highest degree of truth with every character and every story. From there, I have no clue whatsoever how things are going to turn out.

Nonfiction means that our stories are as true and accurate as possible. Readers expect - demand - diligence.

There’s dramatic license, which is necessary or nothing’s fun, and historical truth, which is necessary or nothing’s understood.

What is truth? What is a true story? Who is telling the truth, and what is truth in this world today?

It's a very weird thing, making a true story, because you need your freedom, as filmmakers, to do what you need to do.

This is not a documentary. Are there essential truths that are captured by this movie? I think unquestionably the answer is yes. Do you have to change certain things to make it work? The book is called '13 Hours'; the movie is two hours long.

You don't have to have a true story to make a true story movie.

When you are working on a real story it is your responsibility to get everything right and stay as true and authentic as possible.

Whenever you're telling a story about true-life events and about real people, there's a tremendous responsibility-slash-burden to get it right.

I try not to take any liberties when it comes to being factual. Sometimes you have to, just to make the song sound good. But I feel like, personally, if you've lived it, then you shouldn't stretch the truth. It should be that experience.

I try my best to live by the principle that if you're going to be telling a story that you didn't live, tell it with as much respect as you can for the people who did live it.

The harder part of doing a real story is that there are real people and you have a responsibility to not just go crazy with their lives and have them do things which are not their character, that they then have to live with.

If you tell a true story, you can't be wrong.

The truth is not delicate and it does not suffer from denial—the truth only dies when true stories are untold.

That's always important to us, is being truthful. Not guessing, not making any assumptions. Just coming at it with knowledge.

It's good to be employable, but I hope to show the truth. The paintings seem true because nobody wants me to do them.

The truth of the story lies in the details.

....we ain't doing civil rights here. We just telling stories like they really happen.