Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu Quotes

Cinema is a medium that can translate ideas.

I love good film, whether it's an independent or studio film. The independent films, I think the good ones aren't necessarily eccentric ones but they're the more specific ones.

You can be a smarty-pants director, but that won't matter if the movie doesn't work emotionally as well as intellectually.

A lot of directors don't know what they want to do. Every director I've seen that was a good director that I've admired knew exactly what he wanted to do. They didn't sit there and think about it.

A great director is someone who makes you feel like you're moving forward.

I feel like what Director Bong is so amazing at is taking so many things and presenting them to you - never telling you how to think, but, if you leave the theater thinking something, we've done our jobs right.

I get people saying, 'Opera is too large a canvas for me. I don't love it. I love movies that feel almost like documentaries,' in terms of artistic vocabularies of storytelling. I totally get that discussion; that makes sense to me.

I don't want to do a history lesson. I don't think cinema should be about that. Cinema should be about emotions.

It could be sci-fi, love story, historical drama what counts for me is the fact that they're made by great directors with a great point of view who bring the audience to be elevated and at the same time entertained. That's what cinema is.

A film should always at least be about something.

No matter how big or new they are, I always look for the intention of the filmmaker first. Their intention has to be in the right place.

I'm not very particular about the commercial angle in my films, but entertainment is very important.

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

The technology is really where all of the changes have taken place, but the fundamentals of a good story being the basis of every good picture, and really the only basis still remains the rule, more so today, I think, because we've unfortunately weaned an audience from birth to kind of mindless movies.

Books and movies are different art forms with different rules. And because of that, they never translate exactly.

The only thing I can ever do is make a film that I can respond to. I could not make a romantic comedy for college girls. I wouldn't know how that works.

A lot of movies are about life, mine are like a slice of cake.

A good novel doesn't just transcend the boundaries of its target market - it knows nothing about target markets.

I wouldn't take a directing job if I didn't think it was enriching life.

My interpretation of a strong director is someone who knows their story. That's what directors are, they're storytellers because they're directing where your focus is going to be as an audience.

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

When you look at a movie, you look at a director's thought process.

I'm not the kind of director who aims to send a message out.

I like to think of film-making not just as an act of personal self-aggrandisement but rather as an act of public service.

The more I make films, the more I feel less inclined to talk about them and just let people watch them. I feel that the pictures are telling the story, and I can't really add anything except just talking about the technicalities of what happened on the day.