Duncan Jones Quotes

We always set out to just make a great movie.

I would say that all my films have more content than a 'content-driven film.' It is not easy to make such films.

I want to make movies that I want to see, and what I miss and I'm not seeing.

I found it very difficult to explain to someone why you did a film. It's not like having a conversation.

I know the movies that I've liked, and I know the experience that they've given me, so the goal is always to try to create a movie that I would like myself and that would knock me out, challenge me or intrigue me in some way. That's been my criteria for figuring out what I want to do, or also when I'm writing something or creating a scene.

I realized, because I've been doing these very small, character-driven movies, that this is entertainment. This is so much fun.

I don't want to do a history lesson. I don't think cinema should be about that. Cinema should be about emotions.

When I make a film, the yardstick is my mind. If I laugh at the jokes and feel sad at the serious undersides, then the subject works.

I am trying to make the kind of film that I would be happy to see.

You can't make a film for your personal satisfaction. That is why I detest the cinema of people like Mani Kaul.

I want to do films that provide entertainment, but are also content-driven.

Both 'Gulabo Sitabo' and 'Udham Singh' are cinematic experiences; nothing is less, nothing is more. It's all about creating good cinema.

As a storyteller, when you're writing a movie and when you're directing, you want to keep people entertained. That's the whole point, right? It has to be entertaining.

Cinema is a territory. It exists outside of movies. It's a place I live in. It's a way of seeing things, of experiencing life. But making films, that's supposed to be a profession.

My interpretation of a strong director is someone who knows their story. That's what directors are, they're storytellers because they're directing where your focus is going to be as an audience.

I watch 'Goodfellas,' and suddenly it frees me up entirely; it reminds me of what great film directing is all about.

Every frame and every scene has to have an intention.

I don't think I'd ever start making a film until I had both the intimacy with the subject and the distance to make it live in a certain way.

But actually I make films that I think are extremely sophisticated and cinematic.

The novel succeeds on terms exclusive to literature. A good film succeeds on terms exclusive to the cinema. That's why so many bad novels can become good movies, like 'Jaws' or 'The Godfather.'

The more I make films, the more I feel less inclined to talk about them and just let people watch them. I feel that the pictures are telling the story, and I can't really add anything except just talking about the technicalities of what happened on the day.

Film is built for kinetic movement and crash and burn. It's a great tool for spectacles. But if it's not rooted to something a little higher, you're just kicking your butt around the corner. You can only take so much of that. You have to have some sort of foundation to explode from.

I just want to make pictures that are entertaining. I'll leave the scenery chewing to someone else.

I don't think that my films are 'literary'; they are based on the most ordinary things of life.

The director is the channel through which a motion picture reaches the screen.