Sebastian Lelio Quotes

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

The way I work with my cinematographer is not based on general principles, but the ideas are triggered by the locations where we shoot.

When a scene is being shot, it is very difficult to know what one wants it to say, and even if one does know, there is always a difference between what one has in mind and the result on film.

Going to directing wasn't a reaction away from acting as much as it was a move towards something I always wanted to do. Ever since I was a kid, I was interested in the camera and how it worked and why one director would place it in this part of the room and then another would place it in that part of the room.

All movies aren't fun; some are hard work. You try to do something and convey a set of emotions that have to do with some real life kind of stuff.

In a movie, you're raw material, just a hue of some color and the director makes the painting.

I did direct two short movies. I learned many things, and one of the things I learned was that I am not a director. It has to be visceral, and it's not for me. I feel much more comfortable acting.

It was very hard to make 'Funny Face' in Paris because making movies is difficult and making a movie in a city that was glorious, that was unique and surprising, to get it, to put it on film you have to make choices and reject a lot of things so you're always wondering: 'Am I doing it right?'

So many directors say nothing beautifully, and so many others say great and profound things but have no idea how to read a light meter or arrange a shot.

I love David Fincher - even though it was just two scenes, I loved the way we worked and could tell by the way he was shooting it that this was going to be an affective movie to say the least.

If you are making a record, you are the one saying 'action', and you are the one saying 'cut,' and you have to be sure that the most interesting thing is not going on outside the frame.

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

Movies are not scripts - movies are films; they're not books, they're not the theatre.

I really got into filmmaking through photography.

When you shoot a movie, the camera is always taking, taking, taking and not giving anything back.

When you're actually making the film, you're constantly battling to maintain its integrity.

What is filmmaking but groping in the dark?

I'd come into filmmaking as a painter so, for me, making 'Good Will Hunting' was experimental because I didn't know how to do it.

When you create a movie, you create something in your image.

I loved being asked 2,000 questions a day, storyboarding every move, knowing as though by instinct exactly where the camera had to be, because it was my story.

I love shooting movies. I love the shots. That's the thing that I love doing, and I've just never been able to do it.

I think directing is something I would really enjoy.

When they invented the Steadicam, every movie had to have a fight in a stairwell. Whenever there's a new thing, it's abused until artists realize what a Steadicam as a tool can be. And now I defy people to be able to see Steadicam shots, because we know how to do them and make them invisible.

Making movies is what I'm good at. Cinema is the means through which I can best express myself.

You have to realize, making movies is the weirdest thing you could ever do. It's a contrivance, but you're attempting to reach people's hearts in the dark, and there are so many factors that are out of your control.