Jon M. Chu Quotes

I just see myself as a guy who's trying to make a film or, make art.

I try to make films, not movies. I've never liked the expression 'movie', but it sounds elitist to say that.

Cinema is a territory. It exists outside of movies. It's a place I live in. It's a way of seeing things, of experiencing life. But making films, that's supposed to be a profession.

I hope I can become a good enough filmmaker where I can take a script that I'm not 'heart and soul' into, but I could still make something really great out of it.

I wouldn't take a directing job if I didn't think it was enriching life.

Without a doubt, I was born to want to make cinema, but the kind of cinema I want to make is not like commercial movies, which I enjoy myself, but I wanted to be the kind of filmmaker who wrote original work, sort of like a novelist would who deals with who we are and our times or our relationships.

I'm not making films just to be bold.

I mean, '8½' to me is such a great dissertation on the whole, you know, act of filmmaking and creativity.

Agnes Varda changed my view of cinema; she directs from an artistic point of view, and a film is most of all the expression of an artistic director. I learnt to enter the world and the imagination of a director.

I think there's not a lot of real filmmakers. There are only a few people who make real cinema. I can count them on my fingers.

Movies are art and the spirit of the movie depends on the creators.

I don't approach films purely in context of genre.

I don't want to make movies for kids, and I don't want to make movies for adults either.

I want my movies to be audience experiences. As much as I like Michael Haneke, I'm not going to make a Haneke film. That's just not in my DNA.

I was able to shoot a movie like 'Tree of Life' because I had done 'Y Tu Mama Tambien.' The camera needed to capture that sense of freedom and joy and life you have when you're young.

I'm very attracted to directors who want to experiment. The thing that attracts me the most are people who are trying find a language that is correct for their film, for that specific film.

With 'Mask,' 'Smooth Talk' and 'Blue Velvet,' I loved the specific experiences so much. Each one was a specific filmmaker with a specific vision.

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

Well I don't think of myself as like a horror or science fiction filmmaker. I just think of myself as a filmmaker.

It could be sci-fi, love story, historical drama what counts for me is the fact that they're made by great directors with a great point of view who bring the audience to be elevated and at the same time entertained. That's what cinema is.

I adore Stanley Kubrick, all of his films were different, not just in subject but tonally.

When I have been told that my films remind people of Ozu, I have never been too convinced.

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

The only obligation you have as a film-maker is to tell your version of the truth and to use your film to illuminate reality. Whatever that means.

No matter how big or new they are, I always look for the intention of the filmmaker first. Their intention has to be in the right place.