James MacArthur Quotes

I like going on location for films.

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

And after you've done the acting, there's a lot of places you can put your input - in the editing, in the production of it, in the rewriting of it and so on.

I always think that a director who knows about the technical side, but cares about the acting performances and casting as well, is ahead of the game.

I do like the whole idea of going to a location to shoot a movie, and there is a start date and a finish date, and a lot of special things happen within those weeks.

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.

I don't know why directing is not something I'm interested in.

Unless it's a song and something fancy, I would rather shoot on location.

I've always been passionate about directing.

You can't anticipate in the room the riches of what you encounter when you're location hunting for a movie.

It was important on The Shipping News to have my house far enough away from each location so I had this time in the morning to think about my shots and still remain open to surprises once I got to the set.

Actors should never be important. Only directors should have power and place.

Part of the advantage, and part of the result of trying to be a producer and director, are the practical things, you find. It's so advantageous to go to a place that you already have a feel for, a literal and spiritual familiarity.

I want to write, direct, produce, but in steps. I want to take steps. I don't want to just jump in because I sold a lot of records and just feel like I can jump into the movie world. Naw, I want to learn the movie world like I learned the music world.

I would love to produce a film. I have written a script and am in the process of writing another, so maybe it will happen down the road. I would love to do a film in Africa.

In Hollywood, the cameraman lights the star. In Europe, he lights the set.

Writing, directing... anything behind the camera is what I want to do.

I want to try and be as involved in the art of filmmaking as possible. I feel that the only way to really do that is to take on as many roles as possible, whether it be as an actor, an editor, a director, a cinematographer.

I think one day I want to be on the other side of the camera-maybe directing.

I love being on set, because I've basically grown up on a set. And now I love to contribute as a director and help steer the ship, if you will.

In a film there a lot of people scheduling, you know.

Oh, yes, we were on location with Another Man's Poison, which I wrote for Bette Davis.

A lot of a movie is locations, frankly.

I really fight hard to make things film where they're supposed to be filmed. If something is supposed to be in New York, then it has to be in New York.

It all depended on the cut. Some of them were really on the ship. Some were really on the set. Like if they had the stars for a week, the stars coming off, that was usually on the set, except if we were on location for that particular show.