Edward Zwick Quotes

Every big-budget film is powered by a director's vision. I blindly follow the instructions of my director, believe in him, and deliver what he exactly wants from me.

One of the reasons I love to jump back and forth between mediums is that film does allow me to be more literal. I can go to the real place. I can go to the Coliseum, and I don't have to fake it.

They spend an awful lot of money on I-don't-know-what in Hollywood movies; I certainly didn't get any of it. But they sure do love spending money.

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

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

I find myself really privileged to be able to go in and look at a set that the likes of Hollywood can provide, and say, 'My God, look at the craftsmanship in this; look at the ambition in it, the scale of it.'

A big budget studio film is slower, they've got so much to create around you. Everything is more complicated.

With 'Tron,' we had so many crew members around and a stage full of special effects people that know exactly what has to be done in the situations. You're on a stage in sets the whole time.

Making films is sort of like you're pulling off a magic trick. It's sort of like an illusion. It's not real but you want it to appear real, and all kinds of things go into that, from the clothes you're wearing to the make-up, to the light.

People say that soundstage sets never quite look like reality. But actually, they can. They can be as real as you want as long as you pay attention to the kind of detail that is given for free in a real place.

Making movies is about creating illusions, and they can be subtle illusions, but it's all a cumulative effect as you make these little tweaks. It kinda adds up to something, hopefully.

When you're making a bigger movie, you have much bigger set pieces that require more time and more effort and more people.

I think the amount of production value that was put into 'Game of Thrones' was incredible, and it's unlike anything I've seen on any other production, including 'The Lord of the Rings.'

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.

The production scale of 'Okja,' which I had never experienced before, was jaw-dropping. Not only the actors but also all the staff were experts in their fields.

The most creative phase of a film is in shooting, because structure is the defining element of that phase.

Directing films is easier said than done. The job needs a lot of sensibility to put many things in place.

With the kind of money Bollywood directors have, they can at least add drama, gloss and glamour to their films, even if the stories are uninspiring and run-of-the-mill.

It's always a challenge to shoot a period film and not have it look like you hit the tea stain button in post.

Making realistic films is basically about the style.

At times, there are misunderstandings [during shooting]. Especially with green screen and not really knowing what it is that you're looking at, you really depend on the director to create that world for you.

Even in the realest American cinema that I see, there's still not that sense that this is reality. There's still that sense that you are watching a movie. And hopefully, if we did get our jobs right, that sense disappears when you watch this movie.

I'd be really interested in making a dramatic, low key 3D film.

The size of a studio film lets you see technology in a way that you wouldn't on an independent film, like the gadgets and the angles and all that.

I'm attracted to directors in general because I appreciate the work and the job they have to do. I watched the post-production, I watched the pre-production... post-production is something that I'm very interested in and I did spend a lot of time in editing rooms when I was young pretending to be sick.