Wong Kar-wai Quotes

I'm not ready to do any compromises for my work.

When you have people like Casey [Affleck] and Michelle Williams and they want to do more takes you don't say, "Sorry, that's it." And I also don't like to say, "It's fine, it's great." Unless it's clearly there.

I want to be choosier. I can't let quality take a back seat... not after 'Kaaka Muttai.'

I don't want to put out something I'm not psyched on just because I finished it. That's the stupidest reason to do something, really. I want it to be up to my standards. I don't want to put out something I wouldn't listen to.

I don't want to make a half-assed film. It's not my area of expertise.

The great artist is a slave to his ideals.

I'm not sure my books would translate into movies very easily. So rather than have someone do a terrible job, I haven't been willing to sell them.

I am not going to do a film based on a bad scenario just to make a big Hollywood film or work with Hollywood stars.

We didn't care if we were well-liked as long as the movies were good. We served the movie - that was our master at Miramax. In our second incarnation, the movie is still the master but we're getting the same results in more subtle ways.

If a thing is going to represent you, your vision, you should be involved in every aspect of that thing. I like my role as executive producer on anything probably as much as performer.

That's the thing about being an artist: you never should settle, really.

When I did 'Stardust,' I was fighting the studio for things I believed were right.

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.

I'm a perfectionist, and I'm not going to let the world hear a record until it's ready.

If you don't like my work in 'The Affair,' that's fine, but I'll stand by the work because I felt that everything that went on camera was what I intended to go on camera.

For 'The Book Thief,' I wanted only one outcome, and that was for the director to follow his own vision, just as I had.

I'm not one of these writers who says, 'Oh yes, the next book is due out in one year and three days.' I just say, 'You're gonna get it when it's done. It's gonna be good, but you're not going to get it until it is good.'

I promise that I will continue to do different films and if I feel that the film has not come out well, I will even stop the release. That's the reason I produce all my films.

If I'm not happy with the quality of something I'm working on, I won't put it out. That does not mean that others won't question the quality.

I've always said that I would only ever release something that I would want to listen to as a fan.

I'm controlling over anything I create. I'm very precious about it.

I don't work for the commercial success of the film. I work to satisfy my producers who give me the money. I work to satisfy the director who has written a script for me. Of course, I have to satisfy the actor in me, but I want to satisfy them first.

Whenever any person in the creative field does a film, they think it is going to be of good quality or this is something people will like. The intention is always positive.

A film has got to demand to be made. Otherwise - if it's just, 'Shall we? Why not?' - you shouldn't make it.

I am not adding more films to my kitty just for the sake of money; I choose my script and do it.