Minimalist Filmmaking Quotes

I've made movies that cost less than one car chase.

The stoic drama 'A Somewhat Gentle Man' is photographed in a palate of steel gray tones that match Stellan Skarsgard's complexion. It's a low-blood-pressure version of the kind of thing James M. Cain used to do in his sleep, and its filmmaking accomplishment is as minimalist as its narrative ambition is minimal.

Always do things the least interesting way, the most blunt way, and you make a better movie. This is my experience.

It's easier making a smaller film like El Mariachi. There are no budget worries because there is no budget. There is no crew problem because there is no crew. And if you screw up, no one is around to see you screw up -- so it's no longer a screw up.

More personal films, you could make them, but your budgets would be cut down.

I like films that are well-written and concise and with not a lot of room for improvisation.

Hollywood doesn't trust me, and we don't really mix. When a movie has stars, everything in the budget goes up, even the catering costs. I just don't like the process of having Suits all around, so I prefer casting unknowns. It adds another level of tension - you don't quite know what to expect from them. My movies don't even need that much money.

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.

[Abbas Kiarostami] is a great artist and a poet. I sometimes think that if Samuel Beckett made films, he'd make them like Kiarostami makes them.

In 'Winter's Bone,' it's literally the director and the camera operator. That's it. Just a super-small Kubrick crew. You know what I mean? Like, 8 people.

I need very little to work, because I learned how to make movies on tiny movies. It's all kind of easy for me.