Irvin Kershner Quotes

People often tell me how much they love the digital skies that we obviously painted for 'War Horse.' Well, there's not a single sky that we put in through special effects. The skies you see in the movie are the skies that we experienced - but it was definitely challenging at times.

The first set I remember was 'Ghostbusters.' It was a scene in which the street erupted. I remember even at seven years old thinking, 'Wow, if you direct a movie, you can break the streets of New York.'

Whether it's the experiments on 'MythBusters' or my earlier work in special effects for movies, I've regularly had to do things that were never done before, from designing complex motion-control rigs to figuring out how to animate chocolate.

Over 55% of all shots using animals in 'The Hobbit' are in fact computer generated; this includes horses, ponies, rabbits, hedgehogs, birds, deer, elk, mice, wild boars and wolves.

The great thing about being a producer on a project is that you get to see the ins and outs of every piece of the puzzle. There are so many elements involved in every aspect of a film's development that I don't think the average person is aware of, which is, I guess, why the whole process is referred to as movie magic.

Working in films, there are hundreds of odd moments.

As an actor, as much as I'm interested in how you make movies and TV shows, even as a kid, I've always hated making of featurettes and special features on DVDs. I think it breaks the spell.

I grew up watching movies and being amazed at the animatronics you'd see in stuff like 'The Dark Crystal,' and all those kinds of movies. So, I'm always enthralled with how they can make it all work, behind the scenes, with the visual effects.

You have to realize I like doing big movies that appear on a big screen. So the visuals and the audio have to be of a certain quality before I start to get excited about the thing.

I loved being behind the scenes and finding out how they make movies.

I really liked the helicopter pilot in 'Dawn of the Dead', when he gets bitten and comes out of the elevator. That guy was amazing. He did this incredible walk that we didn't even know about until we started shooting.

On 'Death Valley,' I fought this werewolf, and he was picking me up and slamming me down. They put padding down in the garbage so he could really slam me down. They're flying around and I'm doing these jumping flying triangles pulling the guy down. It's just fun.

I wouldn't want to do a whole movie with effects.

A lot of Hollywood films tend to be bloated, bombastic, loud. At the same time, I do like the infrastructure of making a blockbuster; it's like having a big train set.

I'm a great believer in stunt doubles. They do an amazing job.

I like the dueling club scene, where Daniel and I fight with our wands. I thought it was a brilliant scene to shoot. I think the end product looked really good.

When I'm actually making a film and trying to find solutions, I like to watch making-of documentaries about huge films, like 'Gladiator.' That couldn't be more apart from what I'm doing, but you see Ridley Scott facing huge problems and fixing them.

Making the unbelievable believable is different on a set with 'Fantastic Four,' where it's like, 'Wind machines! Because the airship is coming in and you're pretending to be afraid!'

I loved being on the set with my stepfather. I loved the magic of movies. I went on the set of 'The Mod Squad' - I mean, can you imagine? Just walking into a living room and then walking behind the living room, and it's just flat. There's nothing I love more than being on a sound stage.

Every movie presents unusual challenges, and I like solving the problems with a combination of artwork and engineering.

You can start with a great director and great actors and have a great script - and it still just doesn't work. It's kind of a mystery how that happens.

When we were doing 'Criminal Justice,' they were filming 'Clash of the Titans' nearby and we kept nicking off to their catering tent and going, 'Look what they've got!'

I would say the most difficult part of film-making is dealing with people you are working with and trying to forget the drama that goes behind the scenes.

I think a lot of times, in a lot of modern-day movies, a lot of things are CGI, but so much of the stuff in 'Star Wars' is built and created by these artists.

To do a train wreck and make it look real on screen is tremendously skilful.