Jeremy Renner Quotes

The history of storytelling isn't one of simply entertaining the masses but of also advising, instructing, challenging the status quo.

I have written every one of my novels to convince somebody of something.

One thing you really have to watch as a writer is getting on a soapbox or pulpit about anything. You don't want to alienate readers.

You can make an audience see nearly anything, if you yourself believe in it.

I don't think being a writer who is religious means you have to write about nothing but religion. When I do write about religion, it's to inform the story, not to push a certain agenda.

There is a holy mistaken zeal in politics as religion. By persuading others, we convince ourselves.

… propaganda on its own cannot force its way into unwilling minds; neither can it inculcate something wholly new; nor can it keep people persuaded once they have ceased to believe. It penetrates only into minds already open, and rather than instill opinion it articulates and justifies opinions already present in the minds of its recipients. The gifted propagandist brings to a boil ideas and passions already simmering in the minds of his hearers. he echoes their innermost feelings.

If I was asked to do a film that was just trying to sell a political point of view or religious point of view, I wouldn't do that because that's a bad script.

My films are personal-voice-driven films about human characters and the place we live. Technically, I'm an independent filmmaker.

I look on cinema as a pulpit, and use it as a propagandist.

The best films of any kind, narrative or documentary, provoke questions.

What I do not want to write is didactic political tracts.

I like Spike Lee a lot. He's incredibly gifted and I don't think he gets the credit he deserves as a filmmaker.

I like the way Wiseman builds a story in an unconventional way.

Look, I'm just a storyteller. When I make a film, I never want the film to become a vehicle of social propaganda.

Modern-day cinema takes the form of a sermon. You don't get to think, you only get to receive information.

The best cinema is about ethics.

My goal is to make as many films as possible about different aspects of American life.

Propaganda is not French, it is not civilized to want other people to believe what you believe because the essence of being civilized is to possess yourself as you are, and if you possess yourself as you are, you of course cannot possess any one else, it is not your business.

We are all missionaries (propagandists of our views). Each of us disapproves of the other missionaries.

Comedy is very disarming. It's a way to talk about things and still be light-hearted. And when it's done really well, you never see the strings, whereas when you watch an infomercial or a politician speaking, a lot of times you can see the strings, you can see what agenda they're trying to push.

Feature film can have a major role in explaining ideas and describing peoples' lives and their struggles.

I don't have any interest in filmmakers making statements just for the sake of being provocative.

Cinema is about transferring thought into action.

Cinema is not just a medium of entertainment. Yes, it should entertain, but cinema is made to convey a message, to say something.