Yorgos Lanthimos Quotes

I started off writing TV adverts. I saw those as rehearsals for a feature film.

I had never thought of advertising as a life work, though I had on the side, written some very successful copy.

I've done a dozen or two dozen infomercials.

I was always writing scripts, and I had made several shorts, before and after film school. But I worked a variety of temp positions over the years.

I always admire people who do commercials because they have to put together a beginning, a middle, and an end in 30 seconds.

When I was in advertising, I did a great deal of work on television commercials. A co-worker and I wrote a screenplay, which led to a few more screenplays, and some were optioned by production companies. I was advised to move to California but didn't want to make the move. I decided to use another form of storytelling, so I wrote a novel.

You have always had individual directors who begin in the advertising or commercial world, but they are probably exceptions rather than the traditional pattern.

I always loved advertising. If I hadn't been in fashion, I'd have been in advertising.

A year after winning the Oscar, almost to the day, I was directing a dog food commercial.

I've been doing documentaries for about 25 years and want to continue to do that, but I love the idea of working in a different medium. Advertising pushes the envelope creatively, and there is some really great work being done right now, so I'm excited to jump into it.

Perhaps when I have 10 films behind me, I will have something worth saying.

I wasn't one of those kids who grew up watching movies thinking, 'That's what I want to do when I grow up.' I didn't really particularly know I had an aptitude for it.

I've now been in over 100 adverts for Walkers, and we've had a lot of laughs along the way.

I don't look at it as a career. I've just made a few films, and I want to make a few more.

I had taken a directing class in high school. Looking back on it now, I think it was all heading that way.

I love writing and making films. What started as a hobby ultimately turned into my profession.

I make my living by shooting ad-films, and, in fact, that's how I began my career.

Though direction was always on my mind, scripting was accidental.

After completing my studies, I got into advertising.

I starred in Dr. Pepper commercials and Buick ads.

I made commercials for corporations like Volkswagen and Coca-Cola, but I was always the one to write them, too, which was a very good exercise, because I learned to tell little stories.

I don't watch television. And certainly not ads; I loathe advertising.

A lot of the commercials that I was doing were very slice-of-life, emotional, documentary-style, not big and cinematic and ultimately like the kind of movie I wanted to make.

I gotta tell, that's one of the things in Hollywood that has not been a barrier. I've gotten lots of offers, and I did try my hand at it, I directed two commercials. I won best commercial of ad week [laughs] on my first try.

In a way, I managed to get the deepest things, the best things out of people. That's why I'm a filmmaker. If you don't have it in you, you'd better do something else.