Stephen Daldry Quotes

You are always drawing from your personal life and using your imagination to fill in the blanks.

I like to pretend that my art has nothing to do with me.

I feel I'm all over my movies. I know my movies are all over me.

Most people write a lot of autobiography, but when I came to write autobiography I discovered that nothing interesting had ever happened to me. So I had to take the situation and invent stories to go with it.

I'm doing things that are more artistic again, more close to the material that I love. I don't disparage those things that I did. They're just not as much reflective of who I am.

I think it's nearly impossible to write something fictional without having it be about yourself in some way or another.

Writing gives me the opportunity to explore ideas, play with language, solve problems, use my imagination, and draw on my own childhood.

You make a movie that is about what you want it to be about and let people have their reaction to it.

I just love the idea of going into a room and creating something by myself.

I think writing a solo play was the most liberating thing I ever did.

'The Missing Picture' is about my story and my parents. Before this film, I never said 'I' in a film, so it is very personal.

I can make any film I want to make.

A writer is rarely so well inspired as when he talks about himself.

All my songs are where I am.

I've done a lot of collaboration over the years, but right now I'm enjoying writing by myself and just being me again for a while.

'Birdman' came from a very beautiful side of me, from a part of honesty and surrender about things.

There's not a strong autobiographical strain in my fiction. A few bits of fact here and there.

All fiction becomes autobiographical when the author has true talent.

The downside of videos is that it will put my vision in front of other people, so they might not get the chance to create their own.

As a writer, you rely on whatever makes you up as a person, whether those things are twisted and nasty or otherwise.

My greatest achievement is being able to write records that are real snapshots of what's going on in my life. I won't repeat myself for the sake of commerce, or to please other people.

To me, writing is much freer than dancing. With writing, you could do it whenever you wanted. You didn't have to do little exercises and stay in shape. You could have great moments of inspiration that advanced the story. In dance, unless you're going to choreograph things yourself, you're at the service of someone else.

I really have to feel a sense of freedom in my storytelling.

I write from my life, my experience. I'm selfish that way.

I needed freedom to really express myself. That's really what Justified is about.