No, really. Just do it. You have some kind of weird reasons that are okay.
Paul Thomas Anderson
Screenwriting is like ironing. You move forward a little bit and go back and smooth things out.
Acting is the hardest job in the entire world. By far. Harder than ditch digging.
The films that I love are very straightforward stories, like really old-fashioned stuff.
It's a gamble you take, the risk of alienating an audience. But there's a theory - sometimes it's better to confuse them for five minutes than let them get ahead of you for 10 seconds.
How do I respond to criticism? Critically. I listen to all criticism critically.
I have a feeling, one of those gut feelings, that I'll make pretty good movies the rest of my life.
But I'd be lying if I didn't say that every time you go to make a film, you're desperate to either do it better than you did it last time or to not repeat yourself.
Film school is a complete con, because the information is there if you want it.
I don't think the competition's so rough, within the majority of movies made in Hollywood.
I think my job is to try and be as honest as I can with what is in my mind and how I feel - I think that's what you're supposed to do, if you're a good writer. So I try to do that. I know I do that. I do do that.
I had never read Upton Sinclair. I didn't read 'The Jungle' in high school or anything like that. But it's pretty terrific writing.
I had the standard movie geek childhood, because for as long as I can remember, all I wanted to do was make movies.
I've never been a fan of whimsical or confusing storytelling.
I don't think it's a director's job to peek behind the curtain too much.
I write from my stomach.
I'm completely aware of the fact that I'm a control freak.
My writing has a lot to do with who I am, and what my life is like, and my relationships to people.
I always had a dream about trying to make a movie that had no dialogue in it, that was just music and pictures. I still haven't done it yet, but I tried to get close in the beginning.
I don't get a sense of American pride. I just get a sense that everyone is here, battling the same thing - that around the world everybody's after the same thing, just some minor piece of happiness each day.
I remember being taught in school that you would underline things that you liked. I remember just underlining everything as a kid, thinking, 'This has all gotta be important!' I would just underline the whole thing!
I am always looking for that nuance, that moment of truth, and you can't really do that fast.
No matter how many times you do it, you don't get used to the sadness - for me at least - of coming to the end of a film.
You have to be a brat in order to carve out your parameters, and you have to be a monster to anyone who gets in your way. But sometimes it's difficult to know when that's necessary and when you're just being a baby, throwing your rattle from the cage.
It felt like the first thing, but when I first started out, I got a job adapting a book by Russell Banks called 'Rule Of The Bone.' I didn't do a very good job. I didn't really know what I was doing in general, let alone how to adapt a book.
My dad was this sort of avant-garde guy who did all kinds of weird things. He was a true original and anybody who met him never forgot him.
Clinton used to like to get out of the White House a lot. He would take night trips to McDonald's, and stuff like that. I think he wanted to get out of the house.
I'll rebel against powers and principalities, all the time. Always, I will.
Well I'd really love to work with Robert De Niro, because he's still the most talented actor out there.
I don't miss scenes at all the way that I used to miss them when I was younger making a film. It's actually quite fun to get rid of them now.
I actually enjoyed the struggles that we had trying to shape 'Blood', to get the pacing right, the rhythm of it.
So with 'There Will Be Blood,' I didn't even really feel like I was adapting a book. I was just desperate to find stuff to write.
I didn't have any desire I might have had 10 years ago to shoot every single word that I wrote.
Of course, I'm no dummy.
I don't want to be the angry guy.
My older sister was at the cusp of new wave, and I had older brothers from my father's first marriage who were rock 'n' roll guys, so I was exposed to a lot of popular culture.
To make a film, the final big collaborator that you have is the composer.
You know, I'm really not that competent at describing things musically.
There's a lot for screenwriters to steal from songwriters, in terms of getting to the point.
As I have got older and become a father, there's less and less time for films.
I really subscribe to that old adage that you should never let the audience get ahead of you for a second. So if the film's abrasive and wrongfoots people then, y'know, that's great. But I hope it involves an audience.
Crazy is so hard to play, there's nothing you can really tell an actor.
I'm not really a Sundance baby, but they helped me so much I feel I have to acknowledge it.
