Lenny Abrahamson Quotes

Every director has his own syntax, his own grammar, his own words.

I've never been a fan of directors who clutter a piece with all sorts of crazy preconceptions or weird ideas.

John Lee Hancock is someone that I had admired from afar. I think he is a wonderful director... in the tradition I would say both of Clint Eastwood and Frank Capra.

Whereas with Sirk, everything is always filmed. No matter what the script, he's always a real director.

Some directors are interested in acting, and others are only interested in cranes and moving the camera.

I guess, as a director, you sort of take the script, and you find ways to interpret it.

A movie like 'The Apartment' is beautifully directed, but you can't put your finger on why it's such a good movie. It just is, because of all these things that Billy Wilder is subtly doing. That level of filmmaking is something I aspire to.

I had a philosophy, which may have been proven right, that directing isn't as hard as everyone says it is.

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

People think that the directors direct actors. No. Really, what the director's doing is directing the audience's eye through the film.

Before we start filming, I have a strong idea of the look and the feel that I want to create, and I'm happy to explore any means that will help me achieve that.

If you shoot with a billion cameras, then there's no perspective. You want to use one shot at a time, so it's better to discover what that is before you shoot, rather than trying to make something in the cutting room, and then it just becomes generic.

A script like 'Nightcrawler' gives me an opportunity to truly realize a vision that's mine, which is exciting.

I've seen 'Babel' four times. And each time I realize anew what a monumental project that had been for me.

Every different director has another language - for instance, Hitchcock does not like any bright color ever, unless the story says 'there goes the girl in a red dress.'

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

You ought to have a perspective when you're making a film.

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.

With a film, you try to keep your vision in it. I think with 'The American' and 'Control' I managed to do that.

That's what I like about Neil Jordan's films: everyone is better at what they do than you are.

As I started to develop as a director, I wanted to do projects that were inherently more cinematic, where the freight was not so much in the dialogue, where it would be carried more by the camera.

Generally in my films like 'Hearts of Darkness' or 'Picture This,' I try not to make myself a presence in the film.

A director shouldn't get in the way of the movie, the story should.

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.

If you've noticed that I don't use long takes, it's not because I don't like them, but because no one gives me the necessary means to treat myself to them. It's more economical to make one image, then this image and then that image, and try to control them later, in the editing studio.