“I don't think so much about verbal comedy. I always think about visual comedy. I was raised watching silents, and I'm always thinking about how to make cinema, not good talking - although I want good talking. I'm much more interested in framing, composition, and orchestration of bodies in space, and so forth. My goal is always what Chuck Jones wanted his Warner Brothers cartoons to be, which was if you turn down the sound, you could still tell what's going on. I think if you watch most of my films with the sound off, you could still tell what's going on.” IfsThinkingWantStillsBodyWantedFilmTurnsSoundGoalSpaceTalkingWatchesComedyBrotherRaisedCinemaVisualsCompositionCartoonChuckAlways ThinkingFramingOrchestrationWarner Brothers Author:Alexander Payne
“I like action films, not exclusively, but I like Samurai films. I like Westerns. Not so much war pictures, but a few. I like kinetic cinema.” WarActionFilmCinemaSamuraiAction Films Author:Alexander Payne
“If you're not making epic, archetypal films on some level, I think you're wasting a great potential of cinema.” IfsThinkingFilmLevelsCinemaEpic Author:Alexander Payne
“Cinema really lends itself well to big, archetypal stories, you know, classic old stories and you need kind of a weird, big terrain like the Japanese plains for Samurai movies or the West. You need that for these giants to walk around.” KnowsNeedsWellsKindStoriesBigsWalksWestCinemaClassicGiantsSamuraiTerrain Author:Alexander Payne
“I don't want all of American cinema to be big cartoons that are just made to be digested by the entire world.” WorldWantMadeBigsCinemaCartoon Author:Alexander Payne
“Hollywood films have become a cesspool of formula and it's up to us to try to change it... I feel like a preacher! But it's really true. I feel personally responsible for the future of American cinema. Me personally.” FeelsTryingFilmChangeHollywoodResponsibleCinemaFormulasPreacherReally TrueHollywood Films Author:Alexander Payne
