Christopher Nolan Quotes

I grew up with a concept of cinema as a directorial thing, meaning the director is allowed to sail the ship. Not a dictatorial thing.

All these directors, and I would include the Coen brothers and Quentin, have a very unique vision of what they want. They listen to ideas and make people feel like everyone is making the film.

I do believe that there are auteurs, in the sense that there are filmmakers with very strong voices and their voices are communicated on to the screen without a lot of compromise.

'Independent' means one thing to me: It means that regardless of the source of financing, the director's voice is extremely present. It's such a pretentious term, but it's auteurist cinema. Director-driven, personal, auteurist... Whatever word you want.

'Frances Ha' is the closest final product to what I had in my head of any movie I've made. I'm not entirely even sure why that is.

I do believe very much in movie as a one-man-show. I think that where I've watched movie go wrong, it's usually because the dread committee has been interfering with it.

When you produce and direct, your movies are different to you. They're not just something you act in.

I never overtly analyse my own movies, I don't think that's my job to do that. I just muddle through and do what I think is best for the movie.

Some of our favorite films are obviously not written by the person who directed it. And yet a 'Taxi Driver,' or some Nicholas Ray movie, like 'In a Lonely Place,' seems so personal or obsessive or whatever.

I personally like to see films that are the work of as singular a consciousness as possible.

I have always believed that when a film is being made, it has to be the director's vision.

I was always going to direct. I wasn't going to hand my characters over to anyone else.

I can't imagine any director directing a screenplay of mine, because the great directors all have very personal styles, and the ones that don't are not very interesting directors.

When you direct a movie, you're basically looking at a story, the way you want to look at it. You bring that director's vision, and I'm totally open for that.

The director is the only person who knows what the film is about.

Some of my best experiences are with writer/directors. Guy Ritchie is one. I feel they have a clearer view of what they want to do. They haven't got to try and interpret someone's writing; it's all theirs. I really admire that.

You know I'm proud that I was able to develop and produce movies that I wanted to make.

But I think Barry Sonnenfeld let his ego go out of control. He told me in a meeting that he had to do something to make it his film.

It's impossible to control the reception of your work - the only thing you can control is the experience of writing itself, and the work you create.

I don't quite know what an auteur is.

I suppose we'll make money off our album and our singles and stuff, but, like, they were made as we wanted them, exactly with what we had to say, and done exactly how we wanted them, right? And, like, we didn't put them out to make money. We put them out because we wanted to do them, do you know what I mean?

Films are a director's medium. We're all stemming from the director.

Films should involve a director's idiosyncrasies as much as possible I think.

It has always been important to me to be a creative artist, not to be a star, not to be rich, not to be famous.

I feel happy that I am being honoured for doing films of my own liking.