John Hillcoat Quotes

When some artistes give a hit song, they keep repeating themselves in the same genre. I always try to create something new.

Originality, of course, is what occurs when something new arises out of what's already been done.

As a songwriter there's nothing more exciting than the unknown, the new and different.

I think the idea of art kills creativity.

I always want to do something I haven't done before and get to work with other actors, writers, or directors that I want to work with.

I've had a lot of folks tell me that my songs weren't quite country because they didn't really sound like anybody that had come along and done it before me. I felt a little out of place for a while.

If it feels like we're re-creating something rather than creating something, we don't do it.

When I begin working on a production, I don't really think about my previous album or albums. I try to have a real creative process.

If you follow the lead of the artists, they will take you places that you could never go on your own.

Signature film-making seems rather dull to me; it's about finding something you can do something with and running with the ball.

The only intention I've ever had creatively, as a musician, is to be as different from myself as possible.

I always imagine, and try to be on the lookout, for new things, for references that can inspire me creatively so I can showcase things that people haven't done before or that are new.

We do things differently. You don't have to worry about being part of a particular genre. You just go for it.

If the imagination is shackled, and nothing is described but what we see, seldom will anything truly great be produced either in Painting or Poetry

I try to never repeat a character. I always try to find something new and fresh and interesting that inspires me.

Creativity is no less challenging or exciting when the mystery is stripped from the creative process. The most beautiful flowers grow under careful cultivation from common soil.

One of the reasons I love making movies is because it's an opportunity to share with the world a different way of being or a different way of living or seeing the world. If it's something you've already seen before, if I have too many reference points for it, then it's not exciting for me to make.

If you're purely derivative in what you do, then you could very easily get lost along the way. But for me, I might want to even do something else for a while.

You make something. You give up expressing and start inventing.

Improvisation is the ability to create something very spiritual, something of one's own.

A good composer does not imitate; he steals.

In the beginning of rock n' roll, there was always innovation. Artists were always trying to do something new and something different.

To keep creating something with this type of music, you have to take it out of the box.

I'm experimental by nature... always exploring my creativity.

What an artist learns matters little. What he himself discovers has a real worth for him, and gives him the necessary incitement to work.