I usually make films with $2 and a paper clip.
I've made movies that cost less than one car chase.
Let's keep making inexpensive movies.
I can't speak for other people but the budget of my films is super tight to an extent that people can't even imagine.
When I grow older and less popular, there will come a time when I have to shoot films on low budgets.
When American producers see my film, they think that I had a big budget to do it, like 23 million. But in fact I had 10 percent of that budget. I did 'Mars et Avril' for only 2.3 million.
I want to have the illegitimate child of independent film making and the budget to make it. That's my aspiration.
As long as you keep your budgets small, there's a way of making films.
I've learned a lot from Clint [Eastwood], who's an extremely economical director.
When you don't have much money, you get creative. There's so much money that gets wasted on big movie sets. But when you don't have much money, you improvise.
I'd be absolutely happy to go back and make a smaller picture. I never want my choices to be dictated by budget. That's one of the reasons why I take so much pride in being able to make films for $2 and a paper clip - because I can always get my hands on $2 and a paper clip. I never have to ask for permission for that.
All of our movies are lower budget, and that makes them more interesting, too: we have to come up with solutions other than throwing money at problems.
Make your film for the least amount you can.
It just proves good movies don't need 100 million dollars to be good.
None of the pictures I take a risk in cost a lot, so it doesn't take much for them to turn a profit. We don't deal in big budgets. We know what we want and we shoot it and we don't waste anything. I never understand these films that cost twenty, thirty million dollars when they could be made for half that. Maybe it's because no one cares. We care.
Most of my music videos were made for under $200.
That's why my attitude, even on my larger-scale movies, is to make them cheap. The less these things cost, the better for everybody.
We're making high-budget movies with a low-budget attitude.
We embrace the shoestring budget. We like being limited by the constraints. It inspires creativity. I don't know what we would spend money on. We don't hire actors. We see budget constraints as a personal challenge. We're like survivalist local commercial directors.
I've made movies that cost less than one car chase. But that's part of the pleasure of doing it, pushing yourself in new directions.
Some people make movies and think, "Well, I'll just keep asking for more money if this isn't enough." And then there are other people, like Clint Eastwood, who always come in under budget.
I never want to waste a frame. I always look and see what I've got.
