Whit Stillman Quotes

That's probably when I get the most angry at American movies, when they just so cynically manipulate the audience without even trying to give a good story.

Generally, screenplays suck.

Many people who have watched 'Pieta' have said my filmmaking has become more objective.

If there's anything I hate more than a stupid action comedy, it's an incompetent stupid action comedy. It's not so bad it's good. It's so bad it's nothing else but bad.

I admire David Lynch so much, and I think he made some bad decisions with Lost Highway.

Critics can say what they like about the films, but very often, there's a certain expectation of documentaries that they're supposed to be like PowerPoint presentations. I see documentaries as movies. So when I see some critics writing that we could have done without the recreations altogether - well, perhaps.

I like romantic comedy as a genre, but I think it can get stuck in its ways.

I felt that the Star Wars series became very pretentious as time went on. Just heavy and leaden.

I've recently enjoyed the Paul Thomas Anderson commentaries and the David Fincher commentaries.

My God, there are so many mediocre screenplays out there.

One thing I hate in movies is when the camera starts circling around the characters. I find that totally fake.

I was very influenced by the films of the '70s.

I think, obviously, everyone has a lot of favorite movies, but I really for some reason just love Quentin Tarantino's writing and directing style.

Most screenplays I receive are boring, and some are straight-out bad.

I'm pretty sure this is it for the teen movie thing. It's so frustrating to read when you get to page 20 and you're like, Oy! It's the same thing again!

I'm a huge Robert Altman fan and don't take issue with his filmmaking, as eccentric as it is. But I just think 'Nashville' was a world he didn't know.

Critics often say, 'Oh she makes films about strong women'. Wrong; I make films about complex characters and the choices they make.

I don't normally make documentaries. I'm a drama director. I've made a few short docs, but I don't like talking heads or 'voice of God' narrators.

I don't really believe in the auteur theory.

I like David Lynch; I like Stanley Kubrick. I'm a big fan of Kubrick.

I am a big fan of Jim Jarmusch, and I do love big screen documentaries.

'Battleship' is not a film that Francois Truffaut would have made. Nor would any of those other namby-pamby European directors. Nope, this picture eschews that Continental obsession with small stories, set in quaint towns filled with pockmarked folk doing their banal things.

I forgive 'Face in the Crowd' its uneven tone because it's precisely what makes it feel unlike other Kazan movies.

I don't quite know what an auteur is.

People know that I have a great love for cinema. Not just for commercial cinema, but for the 'cinema d'auteur.' But to me, two of the great 'auteurs' are actually actors and they both happen to be French. One is Alain Delon and the other is Jean-Paul Belmondo.