Stephen Frears Quotes

I still can't quite believe it. Although there was something about the fact that it was a first-time writer, a first-time producer, and a first-time director all at the same time.

I love acting and making your own luck. You have to recreate yourself, I guess. Although, I don't know how.

There really isn't a formula for success.

The biggest threat to a better life is the desire to keep the future under control - to make the world predictable by reining in creativity and enterprise. Progress as a neat blueprint, with no deviations and no surprise, may work in children's cartoons or utopian novels. But it's just a fantasy.

The important thing to remember, if you are trying something that is an innovation, is not to think too much about it. Because if you take too long, by the time you get there, the world will have changed. You take a risk, and if it doesn't work, you make a change. We are not betting our lives on it.

I like the challenge of trying different things and wondering whether it's going to work or whether I'm going to fall flat on my face.

In my work, I have never had any use for anything that I have known in advance.

Do what you love; you'll be better at it. It sounds pretty simple, but you'd be surprised how many people don't get this one right away.

There are people who are able to plan their career, their future, but I've never had any talent for that. I just do things and hope for the best. Say yes, take a chance, and sometimes it's terrific and sometimes it's not.

My whole life has been one big improvisation.

I'm always surprised at what I actually end up doing because I don't have a strategy or a game plan, especially now that I'm making my own choices.

My methodology is not knowing what I'm doing and making that work for me.

The message is that if you believe in what you create, it's enjoyable and people will follow. The talented mangaka should know that; otherwise, no one would read or enjoy it. So believe in yourself. Believing in yourself is important.

Artists of all times are like the gamblers of Monte Carlo, and this blind lottery allows some to succeed and ruins others. In my opinion, neither the winners nor the losers are worth worrying about.

Part of being innovative in government is sometimes not trying to plot out the last chapter of the book, but to be open and see what comes back.

The whole thing about the way I approach work is to be surprised by an opportunity when it comes up. So I have no idea what I will be doing next, and I kind of like that.

You never know how things are going to turn out in a movie. You can imagine a scene one way, and it can turn out to be completely the polar opposite of what you expected. You just have to roll with the punches.

Every time you're given a job, you're given a gift, and if you're flexible, you never know what's going to happen.

You need to be honest and always see new opportunities coming. So I call it intuition, innovation, execution - these are my working principles.

I have always believed that it's important to show a new look periodically. Predictability can lead to failure.

It's much easier to work with an unknown.

You just do the things that you love and see if other people can like them too.

You can't predict it all. People will tell you to plan things out as best you can. They will tell you to focus. They will tell you to follow your dreams. They will all be right.

I'm never doing anything by rote. I'm only on thin ice, and I think that that's a good place to be. I feel like when you push yourself like that, the rewards can be pretty great.

I seem to - knock on wood - land on my feet and work, but you can never get too comfortable, and that's kind of a good thing.