Jean-Jacques Annaud Quotes

Film shouldn't be a pain. It's a creative process.

I love working with actors. I love visual things. I always intended to be a writer who directs and a director who writes.

The only way you can learn about making films is by making them, by putting your stamp on the thing.

I don't make movies because I love to act. I make movies because I like to make movies, and I like to be a part of that process.

To make personal movies that you are the author of, is quite a difficult thing. It takes a lot of stamina.

I try to do as much as I can, every facet of filmmaking.

I want to make my own films from my own scripts based on stories I want to tell, but they take time to put together.

I had some great times doing competitions, but I have always been more into making movies because making movies is more about art and expressing yourself in a creative way.

I would like to produce, and eventually, I would like to direct.

I think making a film is as much knowing what you don't like as what you do like, and avoiding the things that you don't like like the plague and making sure that they never appear onscreen in any shape or form.

In order to make a film, you have to operate on many different levels, making all these different forms of expression converse, and so I just followed that intuition.

I don't make projects; I make films.

In film, you're painting a canvas. I got really excited about that.

I have stories that I'd like to maybe one day consider directing, but you need a lot of time to write and put it together.

For me, I see filmmaking as art.

I just see myself as a guy who's trying to make a film or, make art.

Film work can be very interesting, but it also can be awfully boring because who creates the film? The actors? No. It is the director. It's his piece of work.

Writing and directing your own film, for me, has been the best experience of my life.

I'm in awe of directors like the Coen brothers who can shoot their script and edit it, and that's the movie. They're not discovering the movie in postproduction. They're editing the script they shot.

I like to make movies I like to watch.

I knew that I'd end up directing because I'm so hands-on with my films.

I've been directing more and more the last few years, I find it an enjoyable challenge.

Directing is creating a whole. You're able to combine different elements and create a film that is unique and true to your vision.

Making a movie and not directing the little moments is like drinking a soda and leaving the little slurp puddle for someone else.

There are no great scripts - just great films.