Lee Daniels Quotes

In India, film sets are like a family atmosphere.

The rules are: The only ego is the film, and you have to serve the film.

The nuts and bolts of shooting a film and writing a film are still really difficult. But what makes it easier is the fact that you know you're going to go to work with your best mate.

I like to just work with great directors.

Certainly when, you know, you put a lot of creative people together, there's ego and tension and all that stuff comes into play. But on the flip side, there's a lot of camaraderie and closeness.

If you want to make movies you need to think on a micro-micro level and figure out how to make them for nothing with people who really care about your movie and really want to make it.

I know that some actors and directors like to have intensity on set. I don't, particularly. Certainly, if they want that, that's fine, but I can't work like that.

The creative artist seems to be almost the only kind of man that you could never meet on neutral ground. You can only meet him as an artist. He sees nothing objectively because his own ego is always in the foreground of every picture.

The film, even when we were making it in that budget range, which was really a coup - we got it made because we pitched it to the studio head, Joe Roth.

I think film is collaboration, and I always want to hear everyone's input.

A movie is never any better than the stupidest man connected with it.

The best filmmakers have a very familial attitude in sort of embracing the set, beyond the cast, with the wardrobe, and the hair and makeup, and the props, just making everybody feel very familial.

When there's a good script, everybody circles.

I love writing books, but it's a solitary experience. When I'm on a film set, I'm with a bunch of other artists working together to make one thing.

I like hearing from everybody and not just my co-screenwriters or producers. For example, while on set, I find it valuable to turn to my PA and ask, 'What do you think? Is this scene working? Do you like what you see? You got any ideas for that line there because that idea isn't working for me.'

I know a lot of editors who are very bitter about the directors they work with. They feel they could have done a better job, and I say to them, 'Oh really? Why don't you go try - it's not easy.'

It's good to work with a writer-director.

We always set out to just make a great movie.

Making a film - particularly what I think is a good film - is the result of a team of people, and the end result has many, many hands on it.

When you're pitching movies, sometimes you know what the idea is, but you fully don't know the dimensions of it.

Hollywood is, of course, loaded with egos, but it's amazing to see how, despite the egos, those collaborators pull together and focus on telling a story rather than butt heads and sabotage what is extremely hard work and investment just because their ego apparently demands it.

It's not like I wakeup everyday and say, 'You know what, I need to do a horror film.' Statistically it's only like forty percent of my output but it's a great ride and the fan base is really dedicated and that's always cool. When you're lucky enough to be in a good one it's fantastic.

There's a few things I learned from my experience on 'Hieroglyph.' First of all, I learned that building a world doesn't need to be as expensive as a summer blockbuster. Yeah yeah, newsflash, I know.

I do a film because I would love to be a part of it, but I also think from the audience's perspective. Our profession survives because of our audience.

I just make movies and hope people appreciate them.