Steven Knight Quotes

I loved being behind the scenes and finding out how they make movies.

You could get in rehearsals, pre-production, anything that would actually contribute to the understanding of how a film gets made. I actually find those things increase people's interest in a movie and like that better than worrying about showing the tricks behind the curtain.

I don't see a big difference between the job of directing a low-budget movie and the job of directing a big-budget movie.

I feel that being an actor is a front-row seat into seeing how everybody else makes their movies. Basically, being in the trenches for ten years is like a college-level course in filmmaking if not more. It feels like every director I work with and every set that I visit as an actor, I see someone else's definition of filmmaking.

I have to say that whatever decisions I make, I really do think that movie making is a director's medium. They are the people that ultimately shape the film, and a director can take great material and turn it into garbage if they are not capable of making a good movie.

When I did 'Gilbert Grape,' Lasse Hallstrom let me be on the set with him and in the editing room and in the casting sessions and so on. And so I got a firsthand, rather intimate, high-pressure look at how to make a film.

I've made quite a number of movies like Castaway and a few others where I'm the only guy in the movie and the only place to be is right next to the camera in costume ready to go in order to get it. The years, and more specifically probably the four months prior to beginning shooting, is where the big preparation is that the director does because I knew we were going to get on the set. And the good news is, if you're the boss, if it ain't good, you don't use it. You just cut it out.

I certainly don't feel like I am desperate to run away from a film set. I love the hustle and bustle. Everything is sort of mad right before a take, and then it just settles, and you've got these two minutes of a bit of magic. I just love that in film.

A weird thing about being an actress is that shooting movies doesn't feel like watching movies. It feels like being in a warehouse.

Movie making is really, it's a director's medium, it's not even so much an actor's medium.

I didn't want people to think I'm just in the movies, where you make money and wait around for 13 hours before you get to do 20 minutes of work.

Film work can be very interesting, but it also can be awfully boring because who creates the film? The actors? No. It is the director. It's his piece of work.

I have never been sorry to see my sets being struck, provided they are well photographed. They're not works of art but part of making a film.

You could do a scene that takes 15 hours, but in the movie, it's only 10 minutes. The scene where they put the sauce poisoning in; it took eight hours.

I'd like to direct some, act in some of them, and produce.

I love the entire process of being on the set and being able to create a character. It's so much fun. In 'Think Like a Man,' I have a very small part. They told me it wasn't a big budget, but I don't care about any of that. I'll do it for free simply because I love being on the set with other creative people.

I realized the exciting place was behind the camera with the producer, director and so on.

While making Genevieve, I learned there could be a lot more to a film than just acting in it.

You never get fans hanging out on movie sets. It just never happens.

Making a film is so hard that if you don't have your main actors going along with the ride with the rest of the crew it can make your life very difficult.

People have given their lives to this industry to make movies compelling.

In cinema, the leading player is the director.

When you're on a set it can be very tedious and slow. It's just not as big as when you see it on film.

It's possible for me to make a bad movie out of a good script, but I can't make a good movie from a bad script.

I probably learned, being in 'Taxi Driver' before I made my first film, I would come to the set every day just to watch how that film came about. It's like a graduate course: it's terrific. You talk to the cinematographer during the breaks. You ask the electrician why they are doing this.