John Cameron Mitchell Quotes

I continually marvel at people who can make films that reach five hundred million people. How do you do that? Everybody's different - I don't know how that works.

'The Piano' ended up on television. Everything ends up there anyway.

Today it's not culture; it's box office.

TV is art. It's mass art. It's accessible to the masses.

As films are a mass medium, if more people love your work, it is better.

Personally, I don't think the film and television industries are run as well as they used to be. Oh sure, we've got great digital effects now but... where are the visionaries?

Generally the whole entertainment business now is bland.

I don't personally do movies for myself and a faction of very cerebral cinephiles - I do it for everybody and wish for the largest amount of people to relish whatever they find they can relish in.

The movies that are made more thoughtfully or made or with more ambition often get just get drowned out by the noise.

The people follow what the media say. So if you said that Bruno Dumont is fantastic, it follows that more people would go to see my films. I have no wish to remain on the sidelines. I have no wish to make films that are only seen by bohemians in London and Paris.

Film, therefore, is part of society, not distant from it, easy to experience for people regardless of class.

Some people think literature is high culture and that it should only have a small readership. I don't think so... I have to compete with popular culture, including TV, magazines, movies and video games.

The entertainment medium of film is particularly tuned to the present imaginations of people at large. A lot of fiction is intensely nostalgic.

What's my dilemma here? Am I making entertainment or am I making art? What am I saying? At the end of the day, cinema is entertainment for millions of people, but for me it's expression.

But, you see, the theatre is not always art in America.

There is nothing wrong with commercial cinema if it is made well. In fact, if you ask me, the Hindi film industry has also produced some truly outstanding works over the years.

It's that experienced eye that knows what the public loves and how to create that Hollywood magic that drives pop culture.

Bollywood is an industry that is closer to making more entertainment-based films than anything else because people here are bothered about money.

I don't think you're selling out by allowing the masses to love your art. The only curse is that, when you get so big, sometimes people forget to look at the music.

I'm not very particular about the commercial angle in my films, but entertainment is very important.

We're writing movies that people buy without thinking about it.

I enjoy working in movies that appeal to and will be seen by many people.

Your average pop song or film is a very sophisticated item, with very sophisticated ways of listening and viewing that we have not really consciously developed over the years - because we were having such a good time.

Never hate a song that's sold a half million copies.

Pop music has always been about the mainstream and what appeals to the public.