Bennett Miller Quotes

But with nonfiction, the task is very straightforward: Do the research, tell the story.

All stories should have some honesty and truth in them, otherwise you're just playing about.

I think it's fair to ask how truthful a film is as opposed to how factual it is.

Everybody is always like, 'You must be a really good liar,' and no, I'm actually a truth teller, and I'm telling someone else's truth. If I'm lying, then I'm not doing my job correctly.

Whenever you're telling a story about true-life events and about real people, there's a tremendous responsibility-slash-burden to get it right.

All stories are true,” Skarpi said. “But this one really happened, if that’s what you mean.” He took another slow drink, then smiled again, his bright eyes dancing. “More or less. You have to be a bit of a liar to tell a story the right way. Too much truth confuses the facts. Too much honesty makes you sound insincere.

If you tell a true story, you can't be wrong.

As a journalist, the details always tell the story.

Seek truth from facts.

Readers appreciate the truth. Why say, 'Some think a situation is a mess?' Based on my reporting, if a situation is a mess, then I say that. The truth is always what reporters tell each other when they get back to the newsroom.

For the serious biographer, history and the life story of a real individual are inseparably intertwined. Get the facts wrong, or distort them, and the life story gets distorted: becomes fiction.

The best stories come out of the truth.

I do not make stories up, full stop.

Truth is so much more interesting than the fiction we're used to.

Never question the relevance of truth, but always question the truth of relevance.

I have a hard time keeping a story straight when I tell the truth because when you start lying you have to remember what you said, and I'm not very good at that.

In nonfiction, you have that limitation, that constraint, of telling the truth.

As a novelist, I ask of myself only that I tell the truth and that I tell it beautifully.

Writers don't have to keep themselves honest. They have to keep themselves accurate.

Sometimes when you tell a story, you reach a little bit too far just to make the story a better one.

Nonfiction means that our stories are as true and accurate as possible. Readers expect - demand - diligence.

First and foremost, you want to be truthful as a storyteller.

Historians have to deal with facts and they are committed to the facts. The trouble is that facts are imperfect. The novelist comes up with an imaginary structure. This is not what happened. It is what could have happened. And sometimes this brings more understanding …

What is truth? What is a true story? Who is telling the truth, and what is truth in this world today?

Every time you do a true story - and I've done a few - you have to look in the mirror and say, 'That's close enough. I'm comfortable with this.' You're always going to compress time; you're going to change the order of things. But I don't think you want to tell a big lie. You want to think that you're embracing the truth.