John Cameron Mitchell Quotes

'Barton Fink' owed something to Roman Polanski. As a director, he always goes beyond the obvious narrative drift.

I think Kurosawa was one of the first storytelling geniuses who began to change the narrative structure of films.

I don't normally make documentaries. I'm a drama director. I've made a few short docs, but I don't like talking heads or 'voice of God' narrators.

When I say that I am going to do an American film, I didn't want to suddenly go off into a completely different world that which bears no relation to the style of filmmaking that I'm used to.

I don't approach films purely in context of genre.

I am a big fan of Jim Jarmusch, and I do love big screen documentaries.

So one of the most unique things on screen in American movies today is everyday behavior.

I don't use film in the way that the great auteurs do. I use film, the camera, to record as effectively and as perceptive as I am able what I want to say through the actors.

When a director shifts gears as often as does Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, the man behind the emotionally rich debut film 'Amores Perros,' you may wonder if he knows what he wants.

All of my favorite directors are coming from a singular perspective, and I think that's been very lacking in film.

'Devdas' isn't a real film. It isn't in the same genre as Mira Nair's 'Monsoon Wedding,' where the camera's presence is so understated it almost disappears.

My favorite films left the camera rest, and the actors and characters have a stage to act. Move the camera when it's motivating.

In all my films, I have tried a different look.

There is a porous membrane between a documentary that doesn't use interviews and what you would call a neorealist hybrid film.

I'm so from the Woody Allen/Spike Lee school.

The first time I saw Douglas Sirk was in college. I didn't encounter him on the late, late, late show like a lot of people; people a little older than me, maybe. But I saw him already as someone to take special note of in an academic context in college. I was immediately in a state of visual splendor.

When you first start out, you want to be Fellini, or you want to be Bergman.

Quentin Tarantino doesn't beat Hal Ashby, and he's one of my favorite directors. Quentin is incredible.

I can say that I've become a David Fincher disciple. I have been completely turned.

Some directors are interested in acting, and others are only interested in cranes and moving the camera.

Film's a director's medium. Stage an actor's medium.

A short film is not a shortened feature film. It has a soul of its own.

I'm inspired by film-makers such as Ridley Scott, David Fincher, Orson Welles.

When I have been told that my films remind people of Ozu, I have never been too convinced.

Movies tend to be dislocated and non-linear in their process.