John Hurt Quotes

Going forward, I would love to work with directors like Rian Johnson and Joss Whedon; people like that who are doing big films but do have really independent voices. That's kind of what I want to focus on, is always working with people with at least an independent point of view, even if it's not an independent film.

The kind of work I do and the films I believe in, I had to take charge of making that kind of cinema.

I'd like to enter in and out of that big budget world, rather than staying in it. It's not the case that the bigger the film, the better it is.

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.

It's not about choosing a specific genre; that's not how I go about deciding what movies to make.

My good films were independent and my bad films were not.

Sometimes I feel like doing smaller budget stuff. When I did 'Young Adam', for instance, I'd come out of 'Black Hawk Down' and 'The Island', and I really wanted to be on a small film set. I wanted to be on something intimate and small again, and then 'Young Adam' cropped up in a pile of scripts I was sent.

I think Van Sant is the most important American director we have. He takes the most risks. He's just pure to me.

I'm all in favor of people - myself included - going into the same territory if there's something that can be done with it. But if somebody says, 'Make a sequel to 'Heathers',' I feel like, no, someone should make a good movie that's a dark, satirical comedy that has that sensibility.

But I think the thing I'm proud of about the film is that there aren't many films - either independent films or mainstream Hollywood films - that are like this; it's of its own times, and it's the film Mike Nichols wanted to make.

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

Independent film is film that has thought in it. There's no independent thought in studio films. It's collective thought.

I mean, there'll always be room for big productions and everything but it's good to see the other side.

It seems that the small movies are a little more risky and cutting-edge. You've got your big commerce and you've got your small films that you're more passionate about.

With 'The Crazies,' we had a lot of room to play and manipulate and change things. When you get something bigger, you have less control in that sense unless you're one of the three stars.

As a filmmaker, you have to understand the essence of the book and tell the story you want to see on the screen, and hopefully please yourself - because you can't possibly please everyone.

I think there are advantages to different scales of filmmaking. You wouldn't want to do just one thing.

I make movies for me and posterity. I'm more scared of history than I am of the studio.

I don't make films to reproduce reality.

I just make films that attract me.

When I'm making a big movie, I miss and appreciate all the subtleties that come with making a smaller film that is more intimate, more personal.

I just want to go on making movies, and some of them will be completely meaningless, except, of course, to me.

The way Nolan looks at things is just amazing. It can be easily seen in all his films. I was just watching his videos on how he came up with the screenplay of 'Memento,' and it's just extraordinary. It just opens up your mind.

Cinema is a creative medium. The director has the right to express.

'The Lobster,' at some point, was my most accessible film. Then I made 'The Killing of a Sacred Deer,' which turned out to be not as accessible as 'The Lobster.' It was the film I wanted to make and the story I wanted to tell.