Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Mexico is where I fell in love for the first time; it's where my family lives... so however much I travel, I inevitably return there.
I don't want to come and conquer American films or the American market. I just want to do movies that I care about, stories that I like.
My mother died when I was two years old; that's why I have so many daddy issues. And that's why my relationship with my dad is so strong.
I hope we see more stories where the heroes are real heroes, real people that don't need weapons or super powers to change people's lives.
I wasn't a fan of boxing, I was a fan of Julio Cesar Chavez. All of Mexico stopped to watch his fights. Old, young, left, right and centre.
California is one of the strongest states with one of the solidest economies but, at the same time, ignores the reality of its farm workers.
I was the happiest kid ever, but I did choose to live around adults and today, now that I have a kid, I don't know if I would let him do it.
I wish parents at the end would think a little bit about how everything we do affects the lives of our kids and defines who they're going to be.
In Mexico, you need to be a bulldog to make a movie because everything is set up for you to go back home and get depressed and not do the movie.
I always liked Darth Vader. I remember, when I was a kid, I went to the toy store for the Darth Vader pencil case. I took that to school for years.
In Mexico, this idea that fathers go away is really deeply accepted because, for so long, so many men have had to leave to work in the United States.
There's a big debate in the U.S. about immigration reform. We need to reflect on who's feeding this country today, why this community has been ignored.
I always wondered why there weren't any films about Cesar Chavez. There are movies about other civil rights leaders in this country, but why not Chavez?
I'm always going to be working on my English, and I'm always going to work on my English so that I can do different characters from different nationalities.
I've got two young children, so holidays are not the same as they used to be. There are now two types: family holidays and holidays you need from that holiday.
I started tweeting with the first film I directed. I found it the best way to promote it and to connect to the audience, and since then, it's been very helpful.
When I was growing up in the theater there were all these amazing girls telling me about the guy who broke their heart. And I was always wishing that it was me.
I connect much more with theatre actors than with cinema actors - insofar as you can speak of 'cinema actors' in Mexico, because there isn't a big film industry.
What we have in Mexico and Latin America is a wide diversity of voices, but in Mexico, for example, we haven't been able to get a lot of the movies into theaters.
I think film should raise questions, not give answers. I think film should challenge people to reflect, debate and get by themselves to the answer that fits them.
As an actor, you are always someone else's tool. You can have a connection with them, and you can share their point of view, but ultimately, you are helping them reflect.
As consumers, we are making choices,and we allow things to exist, and we celebrate the existence of things. And we can also boycott those things we don't want to be part of.
I've always wanted to be a part of the 'Star Wars' world; the films were very important to me. All my older cousins were huge fans, and I wanted to belong to that community.
There's a reality that the market is changing, and the stories of the Latino community need to be out because there's a huge audience in need of films that would represent them.
The first time I heard the Mars Volta, I had a feeling I was experiencing something that people must have felt when they first heard Led Zeppelin. They have the same kind of power.
Every time I come to the States, I wish people would react to war like they react to tobacco, for example. Because war really kills in a second lots of people, thousands of people.
It's tough to say where I live. There are some bills that get to the house in L.A., some to the house in Mexico, and some to the house of my father - so I never lose track of those.
Definitely directing is the thing I like the most because this is where everything you know can be used. It's the most personal process ever. It's the most demanding one, but again, rewarding.
I would pretty much like to forget the music that happened to me between the ages of eight and 11, so I'm going to say the first album I bought was the special edition of 'Dark Side of the Moon.'
My dad was a theater designer, and I spent a lot of time hanging around the dressing room listening to whatever the actors were listening to, which is where I heard Pink Floyd for the first time.
I don't have this feeling like, oh, I want to live in the United States and make movies and become famous just because the money is here. I like to make movies that tell stories that I care about.
I didn't go to university, and so, every time that I work, I'm looking for a teacher in a way. I'm looking for people that I can learn from and to have the chance to work with people that I admire.
In Mexico, we call it 'terco': the guy who goes out every day, and every day they tell him no, and the next day he's there, and the next day he's there. That's the kind of people who make movies in Mexico.
Many of my favourite hotels are in London. I like the Covent Garden Hotel and I stayed at Blakes last time I was in London. I like the feeling of warmth and homeliness that you get from both of those places.
It makes no sense that this country has 11 million workers feeding, building this country, making America what it is, and they don't share the same rights of those who are consuming the fruit of their labor.
All your acts affect all the people, people that you don't even know. So we have to live with responsibility. We have to live knowing that we're not the only ones here and you're affecting somebody else always.
Someone who surprises me, someone who makes me laugh, and someone who has her own life and wants to share that with me. I hate those relationships where someone is just following the other person around, you know?
I grew up watching cinema in my country that wasn't telling stories about us, and we had to find a way to connect, and our references, our role models had nothing to do with us. And I'm so glad that it's changing.
When I was a teenager, I went on an organised three-day tour of Rome. It was the worst experience ever. I promised myself that I would never travel like that again, with someone telling you what to see and what not to see.
In a movie, you work three months to tell a story that happens in two hours. In a Mexican soap opera, you work one day to make a story that's an hour and a half. So you can see the difference in the quality of the project.
As an actor, you have to believe in the point of view of a director; as a director, you have to be able to express what your point of view is and invite everybody to join you on that journey. So it's always about opening up.
I started to work when I was really young. For me, friendship is work, and work is friendship. Those who are next to me and that have been there for a long time are those who can work with me, play football with me, and go watch a film with me.
You see Mexican cinema in festivals throughout the world, and you see Mexican directors getting recognized at Cannes, at the Oscars, in Berlin, but the question is, What is the end result of that in terms of the market? That's where it's lacking.
There's a lot of freedom to do anything you want in Mexico. It's just that that freedom belongs to a few. It's a huge country with a big contrast. There is this big inequality, so those like us that have the chance to do things, we know we are very lucky.
In theater, you are there, you have a character, you have a play, you have a light, you have a set, you have an audience, and you're in control, and every night is different depending on you and the relationship with the other actors. It's as simple as that.
Being at a film festival reminds me of the power of film. The power that we have in our hands. Telling specific stories about personal matters can start the debate that is needed today, and that connect you with realities that you had no idea were connected.
With many things in life, you're there because there's a cute girl around that you want to go out with, and you end up finding magic. You end up not caring about the girl but wanting to stay there because of what you found. That happened with 'Amarcord' to me.
When I was 12, I used to be the best friend of the most beautiful girls, but just the best friend. They would always come to me to cry about a guy who broke their heart, and I would just be sitting there thinking, 'I wish I was the guy and not the best friend.'
The life of Cesar Chavez is a story that must be told. He was a man who dedicated his life to accomplishing change in a community that really needed it. He helped a community that was being poorly treated by instilling confidence and providing them with dignity.
I think film can change lives. Doing 'Milk' changed mine, for sure. When I see that someone like Harvey Milk changed his life and the lives of many others in just eight years, I feel powerful. I go out of the cinema saying, 'Maybe there's something I can do, too.'