John Waters Quotes

I had a pretty steep learning curve in film - as I'm still learning.

People don't know what filmmaking is even after they have made ten films.

My M.F.A was in directing, and all the films I've made, for film school and after, I've written, directed and shot.

When you're a filmmaker you're part of a very expensive art form.

Once you've made your first feature, you know what you can do wrong and how hard it is to shoot a feature. Before you do it, you just don't know how hard it is. Once you've done it, when you're writing a second one, it's almost like you're preparing, and it's almost holding you back.

From 2005 to 2010, I was exclusively shooting 'The Act of Killing' and then editing it.

The experience of an actual film from idea to screen will teach me more than most books and lectures.

In many ways, shooting my first feature was more difficult than I had thought it would be, but it was still the most rewarding experience I have ever had.

I'm still trying to learn how to do it, I'm still trying to figure out how to make films, but, yeah, it started then [in 1979].

Filmmaking is a difficult process. There are the logistics of making a film. You have to do your part, and then change the entire thing around to do someone else's part. A lot of the magic is lost, in between that, and you have to figure out how to get it back.

I wanted to do a film for a while, but I never found a script that I felt I was going to be the right person for; because if you've never made a film, you're not taught how to make a film, and you feel like you lack skills.

I got to learn what does and doesn't work on screen. Because the turnaround is so fast, there's no messing around. You have to be on the ball.

No, 'F/X 2' was a job. I enjoyed doing it but that was definitely a job. I wrote that, I didn't direct it but 'Candyman' and the earlier horror movies I made, I was completely into horror and suspense and always have been. It's informed everything I've done, even the way scenes are shot in 'Kinsey and 'Gods and Monsters.'

I'd love to direct, I'd love to produce. I'd love to learn all about it, and being around it all the time certainly helps.

With me, I probably work a lot more than people assume I do, but people don't realize how much work goes into writing and producing and making a movie.

It's a juggernaut, yeah... but I'm not phased by making movies.

The only way you can learn about making films is by making them, by putting your stamp on the thing.

Film is a collaborative art form. I don't know why you wouldn't recognize the stunt performers.

In making films, you're dealing with hundreds of people and a crew, but eventually, it's you and an editor, and that part of it, I liked it a lot. The experience on 'Up in Smoke' was great. I really enjoyed it.

I'm not educated as a filmmaker, so it's quite a jump for me.

I didn't really know how to make a film when I made 'Control'. I had to create my own language, just as I did when I started taking photographs. I never studied either one.

The filmmakers always have a great level of control.

Making movies is my profession. I like doing it a lot.

I had no education in filmmaking. I started with a 8mm camera. I made 34 films, and little by little I gained more experience in filming.

I don't think people understand what it takes to make a movie unless they've experienced it themselves or been around it. It's a miracle every time you make a movie, and a bigger miracle if it turns out well.