Michael Moore Quotes

When I shoot actors, I have that dilemma. I want the actor to be good, and sometimes I have to push them to a place that isn't pleasant. I always think: 'Is it worth doing for the sake of the movie?' But I have to remember the bigger picture.

And I maintain good relationships with all the studios so I've never been bullied into any cut, frankly.

It's not always about huge giant commercial success. It's about art.

I don't like to shoot too many movies since I like to do them well.

I don't really care about making a big movie - I just want to make good ones.

I'm not going to take something based on budget and do something just for the sake of it. I want to make good films.

In most cases, I think most executive producers and studio executives really do their best to accommodate you. At least, that's been my experience in most cases.

What happened on 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith,' I was given a big budget and given too many choices, and I made a lot of mistakes and missteps early on until I squandered all that extra money. But then, once my back was up against the wall, I made what I consider a really good movie.

I don't have many rules, but one of them is, 'Do not make a movie you yourself would not want to see.'

I like to do films that I would want to go see, basically. I'm not out to make a fast buck.

We're offered bigger, larger budget movies to produce a lot, and we don't do them. That's not to say there aren't exceptions: there are a few exceptions, but I try and stick by the rules that produce what I think is the highest quality, most innovative work and try and let the rules go that make us feel like we're retreading.

I like to let the work speak rather than to have to talk about it.

Once I am done with the film, I don't worry about how many centres the film has released, what are the BO records, etc. As I have no knowledge of such things, feeling the pressure doesn't arise.

Film shouldn't be a pain. It's a creative process.

You don't put your personal viewpoints in a good movie. A movie should only be concerned with characters, not some big moral, although it's always underneath.

I've talked about this a lot, but 'The Witch' took four years to finance because there were certain compromises I wouldn't make.

We can't put up a movie that looks beautiful but doesn't have substance.

People are not able to just make music anymore; we have to do things that don't necessarily make the art any better. But that's just how it is.

I can make a record with six-part string arrangements and the best musicians in the world and have it be not genuine. I'd rather make a genuine record that I truly stand behind and have it fall where it may.

A lot of the conceptualists and the prestige galleries are debasing themselves in presentations which have little else to them but the presentation.

When you're an artist, you're working, literally, for the sole purpose of art, and when people discredit you, it's probably the most disrespectful thing you can do.

Make movies that you want to go and watch in a theatre.

It seems so cliched and obvious, but write the movie you want to see in the theater.

I don't think we should be deceived that art is such a moral thing.

I am keen to do quality films; it is not quantity that I am looking at.