Mahershala Ali Quotes

Quite honestly, it's too tough to get your movies made and then also to get out there and sell them.

For every film that I have believed in - from 'Tanu Weds Manu' to 'Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein' - it was very difficult to find producers.

Getting a movie made is a miracle... because the studios are only interested in making 'The Avengers.'

I don't think the competition's so rough, within the majority of movies made in Hollywood.

I make little movies, you know, they need all the help that they can get.

The traditional Hollywood system is pretty rigid, but the film scene in, say, South Africa is booming with a lot of possibilities. If you have the cameras and reasonable capital, you can put your film in theatres next to 'Guardians of the Galaxy.' A great example of that was Kagiso Lediga's film 'Blitz Patrole.'

Truthfully, and I don't mean to sound naive, but I don't know that much about the film business.

The problem with independent films is that they can be hit or miss. I've seen scripts that have blown me away. But there have to be all the right ingredients in place to make them work: the director, cast, publicity, distribution.

With movies, it always feels like such a long shot getting it made.

Making commercial cinema is very tough.

There were times when 22 of my films would release in a year.

I didn't even think anyone would want to make 'Cop Car,' and then I didn't think anyone would want to distribute 'Cop Car,' and then I didn't think anyone would want to see 'Cop Car.'

The kinds of movies I make are not easy to get made.

As a producer, I wanted to make medium-budget films, and I did.

You can make films, and often, they get released on four screens in the U.K. Although it's been interesting and good for you, if no one's seen it, what's the point?

I love making movies, I love trying to make them as good as I can, but I feel like sometimes the marketing and publicity around the movie, becomes the most important part of it.

Joe Roth, who ended up becoming president of 20th Century Fox, he was the producer of Our Winning Season. This was one of his first movies. It's just a really great, great little film, a lot of good people in it. I don't know whatever happened to that movie, and why it didn't get the success it deserves.

I wanted to just be a filmmaker, and I thought I wanted to do all the aspects, and it seemed like as a producer was the best way to do it, because I could have... You never have control on a movie, but you have as much control as you can.

As long as somebody finances you, can make a film and get it seen any place and in any language; then, hopefully, it's a success.

It's never easy getting an independent film made and distributed - even when it's easy.

When it comes to turning out movies, I'm for Hollywood.

Over the years, many producers have come and gone, and screenplays were written and abandoned. It's the Hollywood process. It's hard to get things done.

For me, the movies I like are all independent. And getting an independent feature made, it's like you get down to the selling organs part, and it just loses some of its luster.

The difficulty of getting a movie made through a major studio is so extreme that when a movie comes out, everyone should give it four stars because it was accomplished.

Shooting films in Britain is always difficult, because we've never got enough money to make them.