Franka Potente Quotes

For me, the most important thing is the writing - and certainly the director. But if the writing isn't there, it doesn't matter who the director is!

There is no sense in doing a wonderful script with somebody who can't direct because that is a disaster.

When you work with Sir Anthony there are days when he will do a lot of takes if he's really enjoying a scene.

I've been lucky enough to work with some great directors, and I don't want to throw that away by doing one big horrible big budget film.

It's cool for me because I'm a director, but I'm also a teacher. I'm a lover of cinema, and I love working with people who are hungry and have the energy to really do better work.

If you're an artist, it's OK to put your money into your art. The advantage, in hindsight, is that you become the film, and the film becomes you; you breathe it.

I like to just work with great directors.

I'll work with a director if I think I'm going to get into a comfortable situation, and if it's someone I respect and who respects me, even if they're not so well known. Movies are hard to make, and you have to work toward a common ethic and do your best.

When you work with a great director, you realise you are far from being a director.

After the enormous success of All About my Mother, all the awards and everything, I wanted to start a movie in exactly the same place that I used to be before. I wanted to show that all of the success had not changed my perception.

It has nothing to do with commercial success. You cannot calculate in your head how to put the mosaic together to make a commercial film: that's out of the question.

I don't attempt to make people uncomfortable; I think that my standards in terms of art and journalism always have necessitated my discomfort.

I believe that the director is really the soul. It is a collaborative effort, but the director is the one who needs to have that vision. It could be a great script, but it starts from there. You need to have good material, at least, but if you don't have someone with vision, it's just words.

Directors are our teachers, and I'm always craving to work with a great director. They're pretty much the first thing that interests me about a project. Let's put it this way: It'll take me a lot longer to read a script if there's no director attached.

Whatever film I'm making, no matter how harsh or edgy it is, there has to be a core underneath the ebb and flow of it that is heartfelt.

To me, directing movies is just that. It's a need to question myself and set the things that disturb me on the table.

If you look at my career... I couldn't possibly have chosen those subjects if I was thinking, 'That's a great commercial idea.' I'm not aware of a great musical where someone has done that.

There's been certain opportunities that have arisen that would have been financially quite advantageous but, creatively, would have steered me away from my career plan.

If a director is really a director, I think he's interested in more than one thing.

I try to steer away from doing something that's just commercial instead of sticking to a good script.

I've made movies where I was not happy, and I'd rather not work for a year than do a bad film. It takes a long time for me to recuperate when I do that.

You can start with a great director and great actors and have a great script - and it still just doesn't work. It's kind of a mystery how that happens.

I just know that making 'Beast' was an amazing experience. It was my first feature, it was the director's first feature, and every day, you're just trying to do good work and learn.

I want to be an artist artist, a real artist. I don't just want to do this for temporary money.

More than anything else, I love to act and leave the rest to my director.