Michael Patrick Jann Quotes

I am incapable of directing a film like 'Agneenath.' I can do only what I am good at, so I would have been the worst choice to direct it. It has aggression, action and an inherent violence in it - things I am not capable of directing in my films.

In the last ten years of watching films I have found that some of the foreign films I saw affected me most. One American film that stands out for me for its workmanship and artistry is 'Ratatouille.' It was an astonishing effort in filmmaking.

Films don't always tell a story; some films can achieve effect just by being razzle-dazzle or rock n' roll. That's part of the fare that's out there. And that's okay. For me, I place more value on a story.

A lot of the films now are more focused on the visuals than on the actors. I think all directors should go to drama school.

There are so many elements that make a good film. You need a great director who's driving it.

'Twelve' was a total indie drama character piece. It wasn't that it was more about the performance, but it was just a very different thing where, with horror, there's this whole added element of the visual and the technical and the choreography.

Some directors are interested in acting, and others are only interested in cranes and moving the camera.

A director should concentrate on his storyline and his characters.

Documentaries for me always felt kind of limiting. I wanted to go bigger. And I also love actors, and I love performance. So feature filmmaking was always the intent.

I love filmmaking as a process and acting is one element that is dear to me.

The combo of a great story and good director works for me.

Sometimes the nature of a big movie, the nature of the material, the scene doesn't have the richness that you'd want it to.

In my opinion, the motion picture is the greatest medium of expression ever invented. It embraces all the other arts. The films that have the greatest unity, the greatest overall strength, and give the most satisfaction to the viewer, have been those in which a guiding hand was imposed in every section of the film's many divisions.

I do want to direct a movie from horseback one day.

I'm attracted to directors in general because I appreciate the work and the job they have to do. I watched the post-production, I watched the pre-production... post-production is something that I'm very interested in and I did spend a lot of time in editing rooms when I was young pretending to be sick.

I don't feel the need to direct. I tried to get other people to direct Dances, but they wouldn't do it. They all thought it was too long. One director wanted to cut the Civil War sequence. Another thought the white woman was very cliched.

Making 'Coraline' was one of the great filmmaking experiences of my life.

My phrase has always been that I am looking for the versatility of theatre in film. I think I have been quite lucky in that so far.

I've never directed before, so I need to make sure that people know that I can. The movie that I've written, 'The Sophisticates,' is a... small ensemble comedy and I hope it's charming and funny.

I think I'm drawn to films more as a director with a directorial mind even as an actor. I make movies to make the films, not to act.

He was such a fabulous drama coach. What better person to have than Alfred Hitchcock? His work as a director was impeccable. I learned so much.

I don't direct so that I can have an identity and so I can go on to CGI movies. I had a big identity as an actor, and that's not what I'm looking for from directing. Directing is a whole different goal.

In 'Beowulf,' director Robert Zemeckis uses a technique called 'motion capture' to conjure fantastical things, angles into action and sweeping vistas to stun your eyes and take your breath away. But what he hasn't mastered and what the technique can't do is this: emotion capture.

'The Conversation' was a movie I saw probably for the first time in the early 2000s. I immediately loved the piano and just how simple it is.

Well, there's no question that a good script is an absolutely essential, maybe the essential thing for a movie.