Peter Greenaway Quotes

One of the books we read a few years ago that had a big effect on us was Repeated Takes by Michael Chanan.

I would certainly say that films like Time Code and the Loss of Sexual Innocence were far more rewarding to me in terms of being able to move forward as a filmmaker.

The novel succeeds on terms exclusive to literature. A good film succeeds on terms exclusive to the cinema. That's why so many bad novels can become good movies, like 'Jaws' or 'The Godfather.'

I mean, '8½' to me is such a great dissertation on the whole, you know, act of filmmaking and creativity.

I think Kurosawa was one of the first storytelling geniuses who began to change the narrative structure of films.

Beginning in the 1920s and 1930s, film has been a shadow thrown over the minds of all novelists. Ever since, novelists have strained to make themselves more relevant and, whether consciously or not, novel-writing has been influenced by cinematic doctrines - by turns, embracing and defying it.

I think Ingmar Bergman, Francoise Truffaut - all these people created images in my mind, beautiful pictures, I loved what was known at that time as the foreign film.

Realism is always subjective in film. There's no such thing as cinema verite. The only true cinema verite would be what Andy Warhol did with his film about the Empire State Building - eight hours or so from one angle, and even then it's not really cinema verite, because you aren't actually there.

When I was younger, people were inventing a new way of writing - James Joyce, Hemingway, Faulkner. And I thought we had to find a structure for cinema. I fought for a radical cinema, and I continued all my life.

I've always tried to create music the way Kubrick makes film, just kind of mimicking consciousness. He has a way of mimicking this greater power.

I think of myself as a cultural filmmaker.

I've followed Mysskin sir's work, and I really like his style of filmmaking.

When I have been told that my films remind people of Ozu, I have never been too convinced.

RGV, as a filmmaker, is very smart.

I gravitate much more toward realism, realism in the work that I do, but magical realism got me hooked on film. I think it was my first time realizing that there was something besides popcorn movies.

I actually studied literature and philosophy. So, when I started making films, I didn't really know what I was doing, and I was too proud and arrogant to learn.

Cinema is a creative medium. The director has the right to express.

When a director shifts gears as often as does Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, the man behind the emotionally rich debut film 'Amores Perros,' you may wonder if he knows what he wants.

That's what I wanted to do... I wanted to make a great film that just happened to be based on a video game.

Spike Lee is a master of tone, so basically, if he wants to do something, he should do it, and Imma listen.

I think, as a director, it's always worth pushing yourself and finding out new areas and exploring new ways to tell story.

I always try to approach a film from the point of view of the director.

I've been pretty lucky to work with directors who were quite influenced by European cinema.

I was criticised for making 'Devdas' so ostentatious. But stark and realistic cinema isn't the only real cinema in this country.

Faulkner wrote for film, and his ear is just impeccable.