Richard Corliss Quotes

I know how to write a movie. I know how to direct a movie.

Actors play a small part in all the things that go into the making of a movie. I want to know about pre-production, post-production, shot divisions - everything.

Everything that is somehow related to direction and filmmaking fascinates me, like cinematography.

I was just like, "I want to make a decent 2-D movie." I was so worried that, instead of being a decent 2-D movie, it would have been a bad 3-D one.

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

Ever since 'Star Wars,' there was a rash of how a movie was made. I remember that as a kid. I never really understood how movies were made until that movie, because it was such a technical accomplishment. Since then, you've seen more and more and more, for all different kinds of films, about what goes into the process.

I actually started as a model builder and quickly progressed into production design, which made sense because I could draw and paint. But I kept watching that guy over there who was moving the actors around and setting up the shots.

Yes, I definitely plan to direct at some point.

I love the art of filmmaking very much in all aspects.

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

I went to film school and wanted to learn everything there was about making movies.

I spent four months in Prague in these blue rooms reacting to nothing and you basically place your faith in the hands of the director and the special effects co-coordinator and you keep your fingers crossed and hope that the creatures look really scary.

I got involved in script development from the beginning. It was nice to see how a film gets made right from the beginning. It was quite hands-on for me.

I think of making a movie in such a romantic way.

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.

As a second unit director, you're entrusted to shoot the action sequences. On every movie, it's slightly different.

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

'Iron Man 3' was very educational. There's a train that starts moving which already has so many moving parts, and it's a constant process of animatics and storyboards and consulting meetings, and it's a very mechanical process once the script is written. It's sprawling, and they're throwing money at it to get these things accomplished.

Pre-production and post-production is something that I've never been exposed to. I was pleasantly surprised that you could accomplish a lot during pre-production.

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.

Making a movie is universal. Directing a movie is universal; it's a universal language.

If you ask me whether I can direct, I can. In fact, I have shot several songs, scenes and stunts. When certain directors of my movies were not able to be there for some reason and had asked me to help out, I have directed. But to helm an entire movie is a different art altogether.

I've always wanted to make movies.

When I played Gollum in 'Lord of the Rings,' if I was climbing up the side of a mountain, which I physically did, you know, I was on every single occasion swimming through streams, all of that, that wasn't captured. That was filmed on 35 millimeter, and for certain of those shots, it was rotoscoped and painted over.