Joseph Gordon-Levitt Quotes

Of course I want my films to look really good, but every single element is chosen for a reason. It's telling something in the story.

I think from an early age I was aware of how a camera can tell a story, how a movie camera can affect how the narrative is told.

Stanley Kubrick was brilliant at getting under the audience's skin. He was very interested in the idea of, 'How can I tell this with just a camera?'

Wes [Anderson] is brilliant, kind, and just absolutely fantastic. He was really amazing in the way he can just take ideas, turn them into such beautiful stories, and then bring them to life with these amazing films the way he does.

I don't think the written word is important in movies anymore and the really great movies are done by great directors who in many cases write their own scripts. I think it's gotten to be more of a visual thing than an audible thing.

I'm a visual filmmaker so the camera is a big part of my storytelling tool and it's something that I really rely on to tell a scene or create the suspense that I need and create the emotion of a scene or a sequence.

When you're making a film you're thinking about how to tell the story visually.

I learned very quickly that the hard thing in life is to make good films. Technically, filmmaking is the camera and the actor telling the story and that's what I'm more interested in doing.

It's amazing how everyone has their different ways of working. I like hearing about that process, reading about it. I have so much appreciation for movies because I understand how hard it is to make one. There is always something I gain from watching a movie, whether it's a silly romantic comedy or an art film.

I'd say that directing is in my heart. And that's where my focus is, like a laser beam. That's what I've been studying for a long time, and I think that everything that I've done before has contributed to the development of my craft as a director.

I think great filmmakers will always talk in terms of storytelling. These guys were always about the story. That is how I love to talk about a film.

It's a risk, but I'm sort of ready to let go of thinking of movies as books that you can watch. The notion of, 'If I put the narrative blocks in the right order, this will solve all of my storytelling problems.' No, it won't, and you end up with little more than books on film.

The great thing about having spent all this time on film sets is that I've been able to watch directors and how they work. I now know that this is what I want to do as well: to tell stories visually. But it's definitely my vision that I want to put across, nobody else's.

I look at the stories that Spike Lee tells... Great stories. Great director, great storyteller.

I hear filmmakers saying, 'I wanted to make to make a film about this issue, or this theme,' but I never start like that.

My interpretation of a strong director is someone who knows their story. That's what directors are, they're storytellers because they're directing where your focus is going to be as an audience.

The more I make films, the more I feel less inclined to talk about them and just let people watch them. I feel that the pictures are telling the story, and I can't really add anything except just talking about the technicalities of what happened on the day.

Whereas with Sirk, everything is always filmed. No matter what the script, he's always a real director.

The great film editor is not a cutter, he's a storyteller, right?

I'm a storyteller - that's the chief function of a director. And they're moving pictures, let's make 'em move!

TV and film taught me to think cinematically. Teaching others to edit, for example, provides a great deal of insight into the millions of ways in which given elements can be put together to tell a story.

I really love sort of classical cinema where people were telling stories with very little dialogue, and people were using the camera in a really interesting way.

I fell in love with film and its potential. The idea of putting one image next to another image and creating meaning blew my mind.

I try and let the film do the talking.

In film, I believe things should either be documentary or drama.