Denis Villeneuve Quotes

I don't read books on how to write screenplays just because I'm stubborn. So it's all sort of made up.

I've tried writing on a computer thinking it would make me more efficient, but if you're writing crummy stuff, being efficient is no help.

'The Way of the Gun' I wrote in five days.

When you're writing a story in bits and pieces, month in and month out, there really isn't time or space for reflection, no room to learn what those scripts had to teach you.

I never thought I was very good at developing material. I grew up at the BBC where they sent you scripts.

It takes me two to three years to write a novel. A screenplay is 100 pages and takes five years.

I don't know if I am a good, average, or bad writer, but I write fast. Everything I observe, my experiences and imagination come together while writing.

Like most art forms, writing is part instinct and part craft. The craft part is the part that can be taught, and that can make a crucial difference to lots of writers.

I don't aspire to direct like many actors. I would aspire most likely to do some writing, but I haven't had a chance to do that.

I found the structure of writing a screenplay harder than the structure of writing an essay. But it was definitely challenging to force myself to sit and write. I'm not used to having to force myself to work.

Doing interesting things and then writing about them is the best way to become a good writer.

Writers - all writers, even screenwriters - like to make their mark. I don't think many screenwriters can write. They pass as writers.

It takes a long, long time to write what I do write.

One thing I always did in my career was writing. I always was writing. I was trying to create things. For myself, for other people.

I just do the best I can and write something interesting, to tell stories in an interesting way and move forward from there.

The task of a writer consists of being able to make something out of an idea.

The process of composition, messing around with paragraphs and trying to make really good prose, is hardwired into my personality.

I'm not as good a writer as I'd like to be; therefore, I like to use images to tell stories.

I find that screenwriting is at best kind of a hackwork in some ways.

I just admire people like Woody Allen, who every year writes an original screenplay. It's astonishing. I always wished that I could do that.

One of the things I learnt over the years is that there is a craft to writing, like there is a craft to acting. I hadn't done my apprenticeship as a writer. I did try to be a writer for hire but I'm not any good at it.

I've never been a fast writer.

The hardest single thing you do is get the bloody screenplay right.

Writing is just very difficult. I'm an adequate performer. And I think I have a special talent as an editor. Editing is what I do best.

I am always trying to write.