Emmanuel Lubezki Quotes

Every big-budget film is powered by a director's vision. I blindly follow the instructions of my director, believe in him, and deliver what he exactly wants from me.

As a means of supporting experiential element in film, once I begin to work on a particular movie I consider myself to be the tool of the director.

Therefore, when you see the end result, it's difficult to see who's the director, me or them. Ultimately, everything belongs to the actors - we just manage the situation.

When you're making a film you're thinking about how to tell the story visually.

If someone were to hire me for a film they'd be getting a certain kind of package, that's for sure, a certain set of tools. But I would listen to the director.

Well, there's two things I have criteria for doing a film: The script, which is the story, and the filmmaker, and it's a filmmaker's medium. I like really strong directors, and so when I do a film, I'm out there to serve the director, really, which is in turn to serve the script, to serve the director cause he's the one making the film. I relied on Todd Haynes for that.

Normally my process is to sit in a room and read a script and talk about it and ask questions and just create a dialogue. That goes all the way through shooting. All kinds of thoughts and ideas can find their way in there. As long as you're all on - We're just all trying to tell the story so my job as a director is just to find out what this film wants to be based on, it's just words on a page at some point but then it just needs to go to some level of believable storytelling. I'm discovering the film as I make it, to some degree.

In the best of all possible worlds, directors would obsess about the quality of their storytelling, and not the details of their technical methods.

You know as a director what you want, but the film is smarter than you, the film says no, the film says there's something more here.

When you make a movie, you do it so piecemeal. You're doing it, not only scene by scene, out of order, but shot by shot, line by line. And there's this idea that the director has the whole thing in his or her head and they're going to somehow weave it all together in the end.

When I sign on for a project, I'm there to give the director all the material he or she might need to tell their story, and that's the number one priority.

The directors I respect are the ones who have a collaborative attitude, who collaborate with actors.

The truth is that filmmaking is not really an actor's medium; it's really a director's medium, so all I can really control is the character that I'm playing. So I try to look for characters that are interesting and engaging and different than what I've done before and hopefully it becomes a good movie.

The rules are: The only ego is the film, and you have to serve the film.

The type of producing that I did for many years involved working very closely with directors.

I worked with Steven Spielberg on 'AI,' and his level of preparation was extraordinary. He told me there was a time at the beginning when he was a bit more spontaneous and went over budget, and it absolutely wrecked his head. When you look at the power and assuredness of his movies, it makes sense that he works out so much in advance.

Director of any film is very important, and an actor has to leave himself in his hands to mould.

I've discovered just how symbiotic the relationship is between writers, directors and actors. They ask the same questions and strip down texts in exactly the same way.

When you write and direct your own film, you basically know exactly what you want. Or you hope to. For the studio, it actually can make life a little easier, because if you have a bunch of questions, they only need to call one person.

I produced and starred in 'Wake the Riderless Horse,' a short film that my buddy wrote and directed.

There is a director for a reason, because a director knows what's best for the movie. You just give your director as much as you can to work with, and hopefully, the decisions they make are going to be great.

As an actor, you have to believe in the point of view of a director; as a director, you have to be able to express what your point of view is and invite everybody to join you on that journey. So it's always about opening up.

It's great to have a good relationship with the directors and learn about things you do with cameras, and how you direct.

Eventually, I would love to direct, but not anytime soon. I just love the storytelling aspect.

Making a movie is universal. Directing a movie is universal; it's a universal language.