|
"I can understand that certain people would like a
more conventional form, so that they can borrow it, much
like the gangster picture.… You can "read"
it, because it's something you know already. But if you
deal with a scene [in an unconventional way], it's very
hard for people to get with the film because of their
expectations.… Other films depend on a shorthand, a
shorthand for living. You recognize certain incidents and
you go with them. People prefer that you condense; they
find it quite natural for life to be condensed in films.…
They prefer that because they can catch onto the meanings
and keep ahead of the movie. But that's boring. I won't
make shorthand films. In my films there's a competition
with the audience to keep ahead of them. I want to break
their patterns. I want to shake them up and get them out
of those quick, manufactured truths."
"You know as a director what you want," he said,
"but the film is smarter than you, the film says no,
the film says there's something more here."
"I've never seen an exploding helicopter, I've never
seen anybody go and blow somebody's head off. So why
should I make films about them?" John said. "But
I have seen people destroy themselves in the smallest way,
I've seen people withdraw, I've seen people hide behind
political ideas, behind dope, behind the sexual
revolution, behind fascism, behind hypocrisy, and I've
myself done all these things. In our films [he always
spoke of our films, the film the entire crew was making]
what we are saying is so gentle. It's gentleness. We have
problems, terrible problems, but our problems are human
problems."
"I love that film (Husbands)," he said, "because
I love men. Men are so stupid."
"Is life about horror? Or is it about those few
moments we have?"
"Drunk or sober, you can find your way home - until
one day you can't, you can't find your way home anymore.
That's when it's interesting to make a film about someone."
"There's no such thing as a "good actor."
What it is, you know, is an extension of life. How you're
capable of performing in your life, that's how you're
capable of performing on the screen."
"I like to act in films, I like to shoot 'em, I like
to direct 'em, I like to be around 'em. I like the feel
of it and it's something I respect. It doesn't make any
difference whether it's a crappy film or a good film.
Anyone who can make a film, I already love. But I feel
sorry if they don't put any thought in it because then
they missed the boat."
"I've always been able to work with anybody that
doesn't want success. Jazz musicians don't want success...
They have these little tin weapons - they don't shoot.
They don't go anywhere. The jazz musician doesn't deal
with the structured life - he just wants that night ,
like a kid."
"It's not really interesting to me, at least, to set
up a camera angle. At some points in the filming you
really want to take the camera and break it for no reason
except that it's just an interference and you don't know
what to do with it. It's like putting the top on a can
that is bent. You can't really do anything with it. The
most difficult part of working on a film like Husbands is
that the opinions of the crew really affect the people in
front of the screen, and sometimes they don't see
anything happening. They get despondent. You can feel
them loosen up. You can feel you're losing the thing."
"Most people don't know what they want or feel. And
for everyone, myself included, It's very difficult to say
what you mean when what you mean is painful. The most
difficult thing in the world is to reveal yourself, to
express what you have to... As an artist, I feel that we
must try many things - but above all, we must dare to
fail. You must have the courage to be bad - to be willing
to risk everything to really express it all."
"Films today show only a dream world and have lost
touch with the way people really are... In this country,
people die at 21. They die emotionally at 21, maybe
younger... My responsibility as an artist is to help
people get past 21... The films are a roadmap through
emotional and intellectual terrain that provides a
solution on how to save pain"
|
