Ken Adam Quotes

In film, you're painting a canvas. I got really excited about that.

When I was in pre-production for Trees Lounge, I was hearing the cinematographer talking with the production designer about colours and this and that, and feeling like I was losing control.

Making a movie and not directing the little moments is like drinking a soda and leaving the little slurp puddle for someone else.

I grew up on film sets but more around the process of making films. I saw a lot of the editing process and the writing process, which takes years. That really affected me growing up, that side of it.

In cinema, the leading player is the director.

I enjoy setting the scene and coming up with interesting frames. 'True Detective' was a very hands-on set.

I had done some work when I was starting in with photography on westerns, and photographing them was the greatest pleasure I had. If I was ever qualified for anything, it would have had to do with making westerns. But as I started working on pictures with people like Katharine Hepburn, I got further away from the thing I really liked to do.

I've always been fascinated with everything behind the camera and in front.

Movie-making is a very creative medium of expression.

When I did 'Gilbert Grape,' Lasse Hallstrom let me be on the set with him and in the editing room and in the casting sessions and so on. And so I got a firsthand, rather intimate, high-pressure look at how to make a film.

I am eternally impressed and amazed by what directors do.

Shooting a movie can be so tedious. You're trying to get 20 different angles on the same swing. You never get into a rhythm. But I took it very seriously.

Being movie director you've got the art department, you've got the actors, you've got the camera department, you've got make-up and hair, and props. You've got your finger in all these pies, and you're making sure that everything cooks at the right temperature.

It was important on The Shipping News to have my house far enough away from each location so I had this time in the morning to think about my shots and still remain open to surprises once I got to the set.

By the time I was 10 or 11, I knew I wanted to make films.

Making 'Beloved' was an awesome experience.

I don't like to watch playback. But being on the set, watching the way the camera is being moved and the way the light is being used, you do get an idea of it.

Movies are in a much longer production conversation before an actor is even involved. I always thought of actors as the last piece of the puzzle - so you're a tool.

I like going on location for films.

I just don't see very many films. Because I make them.

Film is a collaborative art form. I don't know why you wouldn't recognize the stunt performers.

In making films, you're dealing with hundreds of people and a crew, but eventually, it's you and an editor, and that part of it, I liked it a lot. The experience on 'Up in Smoke' was great. I really enjoyed it.

In a movie, you're raw material, just a hue of some color and the director makes the painting.

It was very hard to make 'Funny Face' in Paris because making movies is difficult and making a movie in a city that was glorious, that was unique and surprising, to get it, to put it on film you have to make choices and reject a lot of things so you're always wondering: 'Am I doing it right?'

I did Phone Booth, and that was shot very, very quickly, but that was Joel Schumacher, who's shot so many movies that, if anybody can figure out how to do it in a couple of days, it's him.