Curtis Hanson Quotes

There are films that I don't like, and then someone will come up to me and say it's their favorite movie. The movies belong to the people. You make them and you put them out. For me, I love the process of making films. For me, my favorite film is always my next one.

Going back and forth between wanting to be respected artistically and wanting to move people is its own challenge.

The life of a film is very strange. Once the film is done, you wish you could forget about it and move on.

If anybody is excited about my music, that's all I care about. I care about people who are excited about new music.

You know, we're not on stage, we're not doing a play, so we don't have a relationship with the audience but going through that process and also just hearing how much people love the film, you feel like you do have a relationship with the audience.

We are filmmakers, and we are specifically trying to entertain people.

The motivation for making movies is that people actually see them.

The thing that really makes me happy is the real work and rehearsing and creating the character and the process of making the movie. Hollywood's not real.

I think when you're a director, it's hard to do something unless you're absolutely over-the-moon in love with it. The audience, they spend 90 minutes with it, but for you, it's anywhere between a year and a half to three years of your life, every day, working on it.

I'm always dictated to be what I want to do, and I have a love affair with every movie I've done, and some of them have turned out good, and some of them have turned out not so good. But regardless, the making of them, or that love affair, has always been a great experience.

I still enjoy watching films more than making them.

A film doesn't exist until it meets its audience.

I thought movies were handed down by God. I knew that theater was made by people because I saw the people in front of me, but movies seemed like they were delivered, wholly made, from Zeus's head or something.

My proudest moment is when I'm part of a good film, when people are touched by it.

When a film does well, everyone is usually happy and grateful, but for me, the impression the film leaves upon my mind is created during the process of filming; my memories are not a reflection of critics' reviews and box office figures.

I do films that I'd also like to watch as an audience member.

Audiences are an unknown mystery to me, so I can't really predict anything. For me, the best audience is myself, my crew, and the actors.

I am successful if I manage to make a film that I want and if it works emotionally for the audience and if it stays with them after the screening and means something for them. Awards or money have symbolic power.

While the concert is instant communication with the audience, composing is a creative process where a song comes up out of nowhere and then transmits happiness to many, translates into money, fame, or whatever.

When you're filming, you're blind. But if you follow what really moves you, then you operate from a place of hope: maybe that the story you're telling will resonate with whatever the world will have become when the film is ready to be born.

It takes a lot to be a part of a film and as an artist, I want to be a part of subjects that makes me feel happy and that's become a big priority for me.

There is certainly no formula of making a successful film, but there are means to make a sensible film.

I have shot four films for sure. On most days, I wish that there were 48 hours in a day. When a movie is coming to an end and another is going to start, I've felt that I don't want to let go of this one just yet and say goodbye to the character nicely.

I'm very tired, but this is what every filmmaker dreams about: that their $15 million, under-the-radar film is now being seen by so many people.

I want to make films that people will say, 'That movie rocked!'