'Monuments Men' is not a docudrama. It's not a documentary.
Grant Heslov
I'm very superstitious.
I think it's more interesting to throw people into a story and let them catch up instead of explaining and feeling like you have to slow down for them. I think audiences, for the most part, they don't want to be ahead of you.
You work with great directors and terrible directors, and so you learn; you take what you think will work for you.
A film like 'Good Night And Good Luck,' you make that for $7 million because you know it's a black-and-white film, and it's not an easy sell. If you make it for $7 million, then everybody can have a chance to make a little bit of money, and you get to make the film you want to make.
Look, a lot of directors were actors, even if they were unsuccessful actors which I think is helpful. I think it's a really helpful thing for a director to have experienced that. It helps you know how to talk to actors and how to get what you need from them.
I find writing really difficult - definitely the most difficult of all the things I do.
Generally, screenplays suck.
I acted for so many years and sat on a million sets and worked with a million different directors so that is to me some of the best training you can get.
What you learn when you direct a film, even more so than as a producer, it's a marriage. It's like a relationship with that film so you've got to make sure that it's really something that you want to live with for three years or however long it is. So I haven't found the right thing to marry yet.
There are times when you work with directors on set, and things are a bit rudderless, and those can be good directors.
There are films that cost a lot of money that might be decent films. But if they don't perform in that first weekend or two, they're gone.
It takes a long time to get a film made.
You have to make films you feel strongly about. And then hope you can find the audience.
Actors know how to talk to other actors in a way that sometimes other directors just don't.
'The Ides of March' was a fairly cynical film.
'Monuments Men' is a movie... I don't want to say for grown-ups, because some young folks could appreciate it, too. But if you're expecting 'Transformers,' you're going to be disappointed.
I didn't want to be 50 or 60 and auditioning for a three-line role.
When you look at a film like 'The Ides of March' or 'Good Night, and Good Luck' even, those are really contained pictures.
Writing a screenplay is like writing a big puzzle, and so the hardest part, I think, is getting the story.
When I write, I make decent money doing it, but I don't wake up dreaming about writing.
Creatively, it's great, because when you write your own movies, you get to create whatever you want.
I don't make my living writing; I make my living as a producer and as a director.
