Joshua Leonard Quotes

In the beginning, it wasn't even a question of deciding I'm going to do independent film and not commercial films - I wasn't being offered any commercial films, and there wasn't an independent scene.

'Five Easy Pieces,' 'Easy Rider' - those are indie pictures; those were not studio pictures. They had relationships with studio distribution, but they were indies.

There are definitely strictly independent movies. 'Gummo' is one. Another is one I made, 'Fresh,' a $3 million movie which Boaz Yakin directed.

When you watch a film like 'Warning,' you would realize that it can't be made with stars.

Even with a big budget, you can make a niche film.

I've spent a great deal of my life doing independent film, and that is partly because the subject matter interests me and partly because that is the basis of the film industry. That's where the film-makers come from, it's where they start and sometimes its where they should have stayed.

'Brothers McMullen' would not be picked up for theatrical distribution now.

The quality of mainstream cinema has changed. A lot of independent voices feel they can leave everything behind and make independent films.

I didn't have a lot of independent film connections. It really took until the digital film revolution came along that I realized that I could do it myself.

I've done a lot of sorts of films that are under the radar.

Thank God for small movies and filmmakers who can make movies for not $8 million. Thank God for $8,000 movies.

When you start out as a filmmaker, you do parodies, because you can't really compete on a studio level.

I mean, there'll always be room for big productions and everything but it's good to see the other side.

There will always be big companies making big movies. But making film and distribution is changing in front of our eyes. I'm not sure what the future holds for this industry.

I tend to watch a lot of lower-budget movies to find out what's doing down there and find out who's coming up.

If you make a film normally it's all right, the distributors are helpful and cooperative. But if you make a film that's a little stange, a little bizarre, then all the time it's a struggle with them.

Unless it's something very clever like 'Memento,' most independent films have a very tough life out there.

A lot of movies are made, but because they come to film festivals and your movie doesn't get bought by a studio or a distributor, your movie doesn't get seen.

I've never done a studio movie, let alone worked for a network. Every one of my films has been independently financed.

In 1962, we created the Filmmakers' Co-Op because nobody wanted to distribute our films. If we had the Internet in those days, we wouldn't have needed the Co-Op.

I suppose the real cult things now are independent films made for a million pounds.

I haven't done a lot of studio movies, but studio movies and independent films are always just as fun as each other.

I was making a lot of independent movies before the independent movement.

In the '80s, I can't say that Amy and I were aware of an independent film community. We could only get a certain amount of money for our pictures, which made them low budget movies, but they were distributed through studios.

I have respect for anyone who's going to go out and make a movie for a small budget and turn it into a phenomenon. God bless you. Please keep making movies. That's great. But it's not what entertains me.