Michael Cimino Quotes

As the years go by and I make more films, I am increasingly interested in capturing place as a vivid backdrop for my films.

As a filmmaker, you realize that places have character based on their history as much as a face does or an actor does.

Places are extremely important when writing a long story because place shapes a character.

Till now I have never shot a scene without taking account of what stands behind the actors because the relationship between people and their surroundings is of prime importance.

I am very interested in place, and the influences of place on characters.

I think the location is almost as important as casting the leads of the movie. The location on 'The Purge' was crucial to that movie working.

For all my films, location plays an important role because I like to give the authentic look of the place. And for that, one must go there and shoot at the right spots.

A sense of place is very important in writing.

The lighting is so important. One thing that makes me nuts about the lighting now is that they spend an enormous amount of time lighting the set, the background. But the most important thing in the scene is the actor.

Strangely enough, the first character in Fried Green Tomatoes was the cafe, and the town. I think a place can be as much a character in a novel as the people.

Location is a very important aspect to songwriting.

I think of setting as almost a character of its own, influencing the other characters in ways they're not even aware of. So much of the success of a good ghost story rides on creating a creepy atmosphere; details of the landscape itself can help create a sense of dread.

It's hard to say if actual places really affect the way you write.

If you ask me, the place that a story happens is as equal character. It's almost like an ecological viewpoint: These people are living in this piece of land, and in this piece of land in this time this is possible. For me, I almost think location first. It's time first - what year is it - then where are we, and then who is in it.

To me, the contemporary novel suffers from a lack of sense of place - or spirit of place, if you will. It's not important to most writers, I must assume, or they try to research a given background on sabbatical. Not for me. I write about places I've lived long before I ever set pen to paper.

My whole approach is very much about using the locations as a world, trying to find the beauty in the time of day we shoot or the ugliness of it, in cases.

I keep saying this, but the most important part of directing is casting, and the rest of it is pretty easy.

As I've always said, preproduction is so important. When you cast the actors, you've done much of the work. Now, you may need to guide them a little, take it up or down, have them go faster or slower, but the casting process is crucial.

I always go for just really, hopefully, great writing and great acting, being in the company of great actors.

Characters never live with me in film the way they do on stage, and they have certain ramifications that movies just never have.

You're watching the movie for the first time when you're working with the actors in front of the camera. You don't think about how the audience will react. You discover the film.

It's about creating an atmosphere so that characters can just live in front of the cameras. And to be sensitive, and for the actor to know the sensitivity that they are being observed with.

An actor can come in with a specific energy and get it on film over several days or weeks, but as the producer, I'm responsible for the overall trajectory of the project.

When I start thinking about a story, I don't start by thinking about the fashion, but about who I want to photograph and what the story should be about.

It's very difficult to set a film in one setting without giving the audience some intensity and some relief.