Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I'm a kind of private guy.
I am an obsessive flyer, myself.
I find nice people kind of boring.
I've always had an underdog perspective.
Discover how little you know about the people you know.
I want my audiences to be as open-minded as my characters.
I have one of the original 'Ghostbusters' guns in my house.
I don't know why I'm drawn to anti-heroes, but I certainly am.
I went to college, I went pre-med, I thought I was going to be a doctor.
Creating a wonderful drama is an art form, while comedy is just entertainment.
Really, it's the director's job to disappear and allow the movie to just feel.
'Election' is a movie I'd give a leg to cross the director's name out and put mine in.
Being pregnant changes you as a human being and it gives you a whole lot of mixed feelings.
I'm too big a fan of rhythm and editing. I'd much rather my editing be brave than my shooting.
I really enjoy theater. I just went to see 'Death of a Salesman,' and it knocked me on my ass.
I always believed that you can make challenging films, but they should be fiscally responsible.
When I write a film, all I think about is where the thing ends and how to get the audience there.
Most people see a documentary about the meat industry and then they become a vegetarian for a week.
My writing voice is very much like 'Thank You for Smoking.' It's a guy's voice. It's very masculine.
It’s funny, I can sit through the worst horror film ever made! But even a quite good romantic comedy.
What I do feel is that 'Up in the Air' is the most indicative film of 2009. It is the portrait of 2009.
With each one of my films, I'm exploring one of my own issues and I try to expose myself a little in the film.
I'm really specific in the way that I shoot. I've always had a very good sense of what I need in the editing room.
I think, through comedy, sometimes we're allowed to discuss things that you'd never be able to talk about in a drama.
It's funny, I can sit through the worst horror film ever made but even a quite good romantic comedy can drive me nuts.
Each one of my films is personal; each one of my films is emotionally autobiographical. And I like directors who do that.
Being the son of a filmmaker, you are aware of a career as a director. You don't think of it as just movies, but as a life.
I don't want to make films that give you the answer. If there is a message to my films - and I hope there isn't - it's to be open-minded.
I want my movies to be audience experiences. As much as I like Michael Haneke, I'm not going to make a Haneke film. That's just not in my DNA.
When characters change on screen, it makes you feel better about yourself. You think, 'Oh I change too, I'm constantly becoming a better person.'
There are only so many movies you can direct. And yet there are movies that I want to make sure make it to the screen in as honest a way as possible.
I grew up on movie sets, I'm comfortable on sets. A movie set is like a circus. I don't understand why moviemaking has to be such an insane environment.
I'm really attracted to authors who take on really tricky material with a very open mind and take a subject matter that you wouldn't think would be a comedy.
I think it's a mistake for young filmmakers to just buy digital equipment and shoot a feature. Make short films first, make your mistakes and learn from them.
When it comes to casting, I've been so lucky. I've worked with unbelievable actors who make me look better than I am and take the written word and make it honest.
And over the course of the last six years, as I've directed more features and commercials, I've become better at articulating exactly how I want the audience to feel.
My high-school years were so mediocre - I moved out when I was 16 and started living with my girlfriend who was 10 years older. Apart from that, I was just a video nerd.
Comedy and horror are cousins; they're related. They both come from storytellers who want to specifically affect the audience and elicit specific reactions during the movie.
I think when you pay attention to the shots, you're aware of the fact that there's a director. Really, it's the director's job to disappear and allow the movie to just feel.
And I certainly like being on a plane, next to a stranger, having conversations that you'd never otherwise have. You're unplugged, your phone doesn't work, you're not online.
I don't believe in director's cuts where you make things longer. The coolest thing was when the Coen brothers did a director's cut of 'Blood Simple,' and they made it shorter.
Directing 'The Office' is kind of like someone going, 'Would you like to drive my Lamborghini?' And I'm like 'Yes, I would like to drive your Lamborghini. That sounds like fun.'
If someone else made 'Up in the Air' or 'Thank You For Smoking' or 'Juno,' I would have wanted to rip their head off. I need that same sort of passion for every project I take on.
I'm not Michael Moore. I think Michael Moore wants to tell you how to think. He wants to give you answers. I make movies to raise my own personal questions and not to give answers.
Doesn't every generation feel like the one that's coming up behind them doesn't know how to grow up? I'm not sure if we're progressively getting worse or if your perspective shifts.
Humanizing good people is kind of boring and I don't really see the value in it... humanizing tricky characters is exhilarating, and making audience films out of indie subjects excites me.
I've been very, very lucky in my career, in my life - from day one. When aspiring directors say, 'what's your advice?' first I say, 'be born the son of a famous director. It's invaluable.'
I'm a believer that people need to understand that filmmaking is not a perfect process for anybody. It is a process in which you find the film and the film finds you. And that is every film.
Yeah, I was born in Montreal and I go back to Vancouver and Toronto a lot, so I have a sense of being Canadian, and I was raised by two Canadians, and my wife is Canadian, so yeah, I feel it.
'Juno' really changed things for me and I get a lot of screenplays come in now, but I like to self-generate and I like to kind of pursue my own ideas. And I think the more personal the better.