William's Favorite Auteurs
Displaying auteurs 1 - 20 of 21 in total
Terrence Malick
“[On Badlands (1973)] I tried to keep the 1950s to a bare minimum. Nostalgia is a powerful feeling; it can drown out anything. I wanted the picture to set up like a fairy tale, outside time, like Treasure Island. I hoped this would, among other things, take a little of the sharpness out of the violence, but still keep its dreamy quality.”
Jacques Rivette
“What's important for me in a film is that it be alive, that it be imbued with presence, which is basically the same thing. And that this presence, inscribed within the film, possesses a form of magic. There's something profoundly mysterious in this.”
Jean-Luc Godard
“A story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end... but not necessarily in that order. ”
Maurice Pialat
“What I try to do, with the actors' consent, is to create something by beginning with a set situation that we can deviate from in the course of the shoot. ”
Nicholas Ray
“You like these films, but you can't imagine how often they represent only fifty percent of what I wanted to do. You have no idea how I had to fight to achieve even that fifty percent.”
Werner Herzog
“It is my duty to direct because the films might be the inner chronicle of what we are, and we have to articulate ourselves. Otherwise we would be cows in the field.”
Jerry Lewis
“I’m a multi-faceted, talented, wealthy, internationally famous genius. I have an IQ of 190 — that’s supposed to be a genius. People don’t like that. My answer to all my critics is simple: I like me. I like what I’ve become. I’m proud of what I’ve achieved, and I don’t really believe I’ve scratched the surface yet.”
Dennis Hopper
“Like all artists I want to cheat death a little and contribute something to the next generation.”
Frederick Wiseman
“There are lots of different ways to make film. I don’t believe there has to be any orthodox way to making movies, or any rules. It’s what works for the filmmaker, and, theoretically, the audience.”
Buster Keaton
“I don't act anyway. The stuff is all injected as we go along. My pictures are made without script or written directions of any kind.”
Harmony Korine
“What I remember myself from films, and what I love about films, is specific scenes and characters.”
Anthony Mann
"Primarily known for his Westerns, Mann portrayed a world of violence against some of the most striking natural vistas in cinema history. His crime films are gritty and real, and all his work reflects an exploration of the complex psychology of the human soul." —William R. Meyer (The Film Buff's Catalog, 1978)
Yasujirô Ozu
“I formulated my own directing style in my own head, proceeding without any unnecessary imitation of others… For me there was no such thing as a teacher. I have relied entirely on my own strength.”
