Orson Welles Quotes

There's a period just before you start a movie when you start thinking, I don't know what in the world I'm going to do. It's free-floating anxiety. In my case, though, this is over by lunch the first day of shooting.

I make movies based on gut.

The filmmaking process is a team effort. A screenwriter cannot possibly do exactly what he wants as if he was writing a novel.

Every time you do a take on a movie, you're not sure if it's going to succeed. Even if you have a great cast, like we had, every scene you're kind of waiting for the release. 'Oh, yes; it happened. We got it!' There's always the possibility that it's just not going to work.

In Blow-up I used my head instinctively!

I think what's so great about making your first feature film is that you're so naive in some ways; you don't know what to expect, and you don't question things as much because you're just trying to figure it out as you go.

I don't like seeing myself on television and I don't enjoy filming. What I actually enjoy is thinking about how I am going to express something or how we are going to make the visual metaphor.

I know nothing about making a movie.

I didn't even know what a horror film was. I kind of made it up as I went along.

There are times when I do feel very nervous when I start a film. And I feel very nervous before the release. I do get stuck in some scenes, but that's very natural and human. It happens to all the artistes in the world.

Instincts are a really important guide for any artist, but particularly filmmakers because it takes a lot to stay true to your instincts as a storyteller.

Film becomes a living organism. After awhile, it begins to tell you what it needs, and you're usually best listening.

There is certainly no formula of making a successful film, but there are means to make a sensible film.

I think the way you make a movie dictates the movie that you make.

That's the great thing about filmmaking: Things happen you don't know are going to happen at the end.

I am always in self-doubt... every moment of my filmmaking. I am supremely confident when the story is being written and everything is in our head. But the moment we get into the filmmaking, I start doubting myself - from the camera angle to the re-recording to getting the actors to do their shots.

The directing process is often a continuation of the writing. This is just a different skill-set.

One of the things about Derek Jarman was that he was a painter who worked alone when he painted, but I firmly believe that one of the reasons he made films was for the company. He made filmmakers of all of us, that's the truth. I don't mean he necessarily made directors, but he made us filmmakers. Because we lived in a state of mutual responsibility for what we made.

I never really feel like I'm sure a film's gonna happen until I'm maybe halfway through.

Once you've started a film you don't become a wet noodle. You must have that conflictual interface because you don't know, and they don't know. It's through conflict that you come out with something that might be different, better than either of you thought to begin with.

The way I go about making a movie... even the ones that are interview-driven, I go into them not knowing what's going to happen, and feeling my way through.

I had an idea and I wanted just to make it work. And I am never, ever secure on the set that what I am doing is going to translate to the screen. It never changes.

When you start on a new film, no matter how many you've done before that, I think I've done close to 80 films, but it's always kind of a fun adventure.

First of all, you make a movie that you want to see and then you just hope for the best.

When I was on set I tried not to bug Steven Soderbergh too much. "Why did you put the camera there?" But he was very open to my questions and definitely being on his set was really thrilling because he's such a master.