Jonathan Demme Quotes

Studios never put pressure. They know the kind of films I want to make.

That's the thing about creating. When you create, you create your own thing, whatever that is. It's always going to seep through in whatever you do.

The quality of mainstream cinema has changed. A lot of independent voices feel they can leave everything behind and make independent films.

When you're an artist, all you're trying to do is self-express.

I think the idea of art kills creativity.

As a creative person, you want to start with a blank canvas.

I always say that in my career as an actress, I've always worked with people like David Lynch or Guy Maddin or Peter Weir who are considered not mainstream directors and that could be because they are like my dad. They are pioneers, and pioneers, by definition, invent something new.

There's no room for being a visionary in the studio system. It literally cannot exist.

I wanted to make my sophomore film as different as possible. I didn't want to be pigeonholed. I didn't want to be identifiable.

If you paint a picture and I paint a picture, we each want to do it our own way. And we'll stand or fall on whatever we did.

I feel like I'm just trying to pave my own lane and just kind of make my own sound.

I think I'll always be making movies that intend to say something new.

All our forms are unique - movies, music and literature - and you have to leave the person who is doing it to do their best.

Why not do something strange and different for once? Artists can do whatever they want!

If the imagination is shackled, and nothing is described but what we see, seldom will anything truly great be produced either in Painting or Poetry

It's time to stop complying with the system and draw your own map. Stop settling for what's good enough and start creating art that matters.

I've been lucky to have things come to me that creatively fulfill me, and those are usually the independent films just because you have a little bit more freedom.

When the artist is alive in any person, whatever his kind of work may be, he becomes an inventive, searching, daring, self-expressing creature.

The great artist takes what he needs.

An artist is someone who uses bravery, insight, creativity, and boldness to challenge the status quo. And an artist takes it personally.

Improvisation is the ability to create something very spiritual, something of one's own.

I associate creativity with independent music.

Just trying to be different - when I hear something - I don't like to go trampling on other people's sounds.

But, I love making independent films. I love it! You create a family, and you sweat, you bleed, you cry, you shout, you laugh and you hug. It's such an extraordinary experience, making independent films.

I have to believe everything I write is brand new and I'm writing in this way about these people in a completely new situation for the very first time.