James Gray Quotes

Your average pop song or film is a very sophisticated item, with very sophisticated ways of listening and viewing that we have not really consciously developed over the years - because we were having such a good time.

Film, therefore, is part of society, not distant from it, easy to experience for people regardless of class.

You can make serious pop, you know? There was a time when the best movies were the most popular, and I keep thinking that can happen again.

Fundamentally, the most important thing is to get the film made for me and to get as many people to see it as possible. And if I help that, then - I know I help that, let's put it that way. I do know that I help that. It is called show business.

The filmmaker is really important to me: it could be their first film; it's not just about their reputation, but I have to really believe in them.

I don't personally do movies for myself and a faction of very cerebral cinephiles - I do it for everybody and wish for the largest amount of people to relish whatever they find they can relish in.

Movies are the biggest export in the world, the biggest American export. It influences people all over the world.

When you're working on a movie you always hope that people will go for it and enjoy what you're doing.

When you make a movie, you can only make the movie that you would want to see.

With a movie you're creating from the beginning this particular work, let's not call it work of art, because very few movies are works of art, let's just call them bits of popular culture, whatever they are, sometimes very rarely by accident a movie becomes a work of art.

What's my dilemma here? Am I making entertainment or am I making art? What am I saying? At the end of the day, cinema is entertainment for millions of people, but for me it's expression.

TV is art. It's mass art. It's accessible to the masses.

I strongly believe cinema is popular culture. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. That's life.

TV is the most powerful medium, which has taken me right into the homes of so many people.

There is certainly no formula of making a successful film, but there are means to make a sensible film.

I used to once believe that the script is the most important thing, but now I also believe that the kind of people you are working with also matters a lot, and moreso, to see how the film will be promoted.

We're writing movies that people buy without thinking about it.

There's always this debate about how we need more good films but how many are willing to be part of such films.

I feel the primary job of cinema is to entertain.

I believe that films are meant for entertainment, but in that process, you have the possibility to think about what kind of entertainment you're giving to audiences.

Singing for Bollywood films has an altogether different approach, as the industry has a wider reach. It has helped me reach parts of India which I didn't know existed.

I love making movies, I love trying to make them as good as I can, but I feel like sometimes the marketing and publicity around the movie, becomes the most important part of it.

When you make movies, you've picked the most expensive art form, and somebody has to pay for it. You kind of owe it to them to at least let them know how you expect to make it as accessible to as many people as you can, given the story you're telling.

I'm pretty focused on what I do. I think directing is a very specific talent, and I'm not real big on putting puzzles together, which is basically what a film is.

Scripts don't get movies made.