Grant Heslov Quotes

I am a historian. I do a lot of research, and I try to get it right.

I've been reading a lot of books on history, and watching a lot of educational TV. Wikipedia too, even though it is not reliable.

I once did an event with Ian Rankin where he said he didn't really need to do much background research because his books are set in the present, and I just thought: 'You lucky, lucky beast!' because as a historical novelist, I live constantly on the edge of wondering whether tissues had been invented.

I am not someone who believes I am going to find a historical scoop.

I often tell people who want to write historical fiction: don't read all that much about the period you're writing about; read things from the period that you're writing about. There's a tendency to stoke up on a lot of biography and a lot of history, and not to actually get back to the original sources.

I conduct very few interviews with veterans. The contemporaneous, or near-contemporaneous, record for WWII is so spectacularly deep that latter-day recollections are largely unnecessary for a historian. Of course, in considering any account, I'm looking for additional sources that can confirm or enlarge that version of events.

I'm something of a history buff. It's deliberate that a lot of my films have been period pieces.

Sometimes you have a period piece where you have to research around it but, if the writers have done their homework well enough, the information is all in the script.

I love being in the archives, traveling, sitting in dusty places and looking at books with brittle pages. I love reading biographies and researching, to make myself informed about whatever political or historical time I'm writing about. From there, a lot of the emotional truths about my characters emerge.

The research period of a film is the most exciting part of the process, and filming is sometimes a letdown because when you're dealing with biopic material, the real thing is always much more intricate than the story told in the film.

I think that when you're making a story... that's based on somebody, the filmmaker has his duty to do his research.

History is only conjecture, and the best historians try to do it as accurately as they can. They try to accurately reassemble the facts and then put them down on paper.

I just love the days when you come out of the archives with half a dozen excellent descriptions or poignant accounts of personal experiences.

It can be a long gap between the emergence of fully researched historical biographies.

I'm always nervous taking on a period role because it's difficult to research - you can't observe it, go out and see it. But it's satisfying because eventually you think, 'I got there.'

I like the stories with the historical themes.

I believe that historians and analysts of historical events need the authority of facts supplied by living witnesses to the events, which they make their subject.

Everyone relates differently to contemporary stuff. They rely on you to do the research for a period film.

To be a good researcher is to be a good detective, and I enjoy ferreting out tidbits of information. For a diary book like 'A Coal Miner's Bride,' newspapers come in handy for small everyday details such as weather reports.

When I'm working on historical books, I'm much more organized. I usually read about 100 books to get the depth of knowledge I need.

As a historian, I love every little detail, but whole long passages about wood paneling and journeys on horseback and every stop at every inn had to go out the window. I decided the history in the books should be like spice in a soup - a little went a long way. Like cilantro.

You need, as a historian, essential triangulation from your subject and the only way you get that triangulation is through time.

My research process doesn't vary much. I do a little reading to establish a timeline and decide how I'm going to approach the story.

I am not a fan of historical fiction that is sloppy in its research or is dishonest about the real history.

I had already done a lot of research for Rough Riders, keeping notebooks and old photographs. Some of the books were antiques for that time period, with the covers falling off.