James Cromwell Quotes

When you shoot a movie, the camera is always taking, taking, taking and not giving anything back.

I really got into filmmaking through photography.

A shot is only as every as good as how well it tells the story.

I was always very interested in the storytelling decisions that went into directing. It just held this real allure for me. You know, if we're doing a scene at a dinner table, they weren't all shot the same. 'Why was the camera here for one moment and there for another?'

As a director, I start with the visual.

There are some scenes that work beautifully in a moving, sweeping master, which is how I like to work.

As a director, you're looking for ways to tell the story with the whole image and not primarily dialogue.

As a filmmaker and film student, I think it's really interesting to hear what a director did and how they figured out how to do things.

I have a great little camera, and I had a theory that if the story is interesting, it doesn't matter what medium you shoot it on. You just have to make a good film.

Visual elements are, of course, the director's job.

I also know what looks good before the camera, how to move the camera, and how to get a story on the screen.

Normally as a director, you do look at other films and things that are relevant. But with this film, it became impossible because I became so aware of the camera placement.

I still want to direct. That's my main love, and that comes from being obsessed with subtleties and people.

My job is to kind of nudge them. Who said it, where, like, '90% of the job is casting,' so all I do is try to come to set and focus on getting all the best shots to cover the story; that's really it.

The thing is, as a film director, you're essentially alone: You have to tell a story primarily through pictures, and only you know the film you see in your head.

Directing is a tremendous art.

I'm in total awe of the technique of great film people. Because if you get your emotional life up to perfection by miracle on Take One, you better have a technique to keep doing it again and again and again.

I can still recall the thrill of shooting my first film.

I love having 30 shots of every scene.

I think that's the key to being a director: to be able to get the shot and move on quickly.

I discovered that, in order to write a magnificent piece, you should shoot the images because once you are filming, you are writing the script in your mind.

Anybody can direct a picture once they know the fundamentals. Directing is not a mystery, it's not an art. The main thing about directing is: photograph the people's eyes.

Film is a dramatised reality and it is the director's job to make it appear real... an audience should not be conscious of technique.

In my films that I've directed, and my work in commercials and videos, I've rarely used handheld. It's just not something I'm drawn to, but I've seen it done very well.

I think you cannot make films without choosing everything.