Paul W. S. Anderson Books & Quotes

“I started doing commercials in 2008 right after we released Death Race, and the reason was that I spent two years prepping Death Race and building all these custom rigs to shoot cars in the most dynamic and exciting way.”

Way Years Two Reason Race Car Building Exciting Two Years Customs Rigs Death Race

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“I love Death Race, it's one of my favorite films. I thought, "You know what? All that two years worth of work is now gong to be wasted because I'm highly unlikely to direct another car movie straight away," and I felt at that point there was no one who was kind of better at shooting cars, so I thought rather than let it go to waste I would explore the idea of doing commercials, and that's what I did.”

Knows Years Kind Two Ideas Film Felt Race Car Waste Direct My Favorite Shooting Two Years Unlikely Let It Go Love Death Gongs Death Race

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“The first job I did was Volkswagen, we shot it in Long Beach, and it was like they won multiple awards with it and they were super excited about it and that kind of launched me into the world of commercials. Still most of what I do is car-related stuff.”

World Firsts Kind Long Stills Jobs Stuff Car Shots Excited Beach Related Awards Multiple Volkswagens Long Beach

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“The way it works in commercials is they come to you with the script and then you do the visual, you do the storyboards, and you give your vision of it, but it's very much their baby. You just kind of put your polish and sheen on it, and you're interpretation of it, but it's very much the agency's idea.”

Way Giving Kind Ideas Vision Baby Scripts Agency Visuals Interpretation Polish

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“I think people were a little nervous to work with me to start with, because the movies I've done they thought that I wouldn't be able to control myself at all. I'd have to blow up the cars or something like that, and I think also people are scared of working sometimes with feature directors, because they feel like you're not going to listen to their opinions.”

People Thinking Feels Littles Sometimes Done Able Opinion Car Like You Directors Scared Blow Nervous Features Control Myself

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“I'm a very collaborative person, so that's not the way I work any way. Once VW got over the idea that I was going to blow their cars up, then we shot the thing really fast and it came out really good. Like I said, it won a bunch of awards and that really was the start of working in commercials.”

Way Persons Said Ideas Car Shots Blow Bunch Awards

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“Every movie is a commitment of a year or a year and a half. Commercials are much faster than that because they're much more contained. You can get in and out really fast, and you do a piece of work the you see the end result very quickly.”

Years Ends Results Half Pieces Commitment Faster End Results

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“Commercials are also any opportunity to meet new crew and work with new kind of rigs. You can explore working with different people without having to make the full commitment of having to do an entire feature film with them and see whether you like them. Also it's great for testing out new equipment, like on the last spot we just did, I used a lot of drone technology, really cutting edge drone stuff, more than I've ever done before, and it worked out really really well.”

People Wells Kind Different Done Lasts Film Used Opportunity Stuff Technology Cutting Commitment Edges Spots Features Crew Equipment Testing Different Peoples Drones Cutting Edge Rigs

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“I'm very impressed and the next movie I do I'm definitely going to use a lot of drones in it, because they're very light and flexible and fast, and there are things that you can do with them that you can't possibly do with a helicopter for safety reasons.”

Reason Use Light Next Can Do Safety Impressed Flexible Drones Helicopters

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“I like alternating commercials with movies, because it keeps the pace up. You can't slack on a commercial. You need to go fast. That's a terrific piece of action, I think if that was scheduled for a movie, you'd put that in for two or three days worth of work.”

Ifs Thinking Needs Two Action Three Pieces Pace Terrific

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“It's all based around the idea that basically VW cars are space age. They're the worst cars to use in action movie, because all the things you want to traditionally do in an action movie they won't allow you to do, because they make you drive safely if you want to or not.”

Ifs Want Ideas Use Age Action Space Worst Car Action Movie Drive Safely

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“So each of the commercials- basically it's an action movie cliché. "Bus" is very much inspired by Speed obviously, where you have a high-jacked out of control bus, and you have heroes who are trying to jump from a moving vehicle to the bus and they just can't do it because the moving vehicle can't get close enough, because all these VW cars have this distancing technology, which is really fantastic.”

Trying Enough Action Moving Technology Car Hero Inspired Speed Fantastic Bus Vehicle Action Movie

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“When that technology becomes widespread and it's on every car on the freeways, it's going to save so many lives. Especially in America, so many people get killed in these multi-car pileups on the freeways.”

People America Technology Car Freeways

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“Oh, yeah. A big part of my job is drinking martinis when I work in advertising.”

Bigs Jobs Yeah Drinking Advertising Martini

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“These commercials, I directed them all from inside the tracking vehicle, so I was traveling about 85mph most of the time, so there wasn't really anyone sitting beside me other than the driver. But, you know, yeah the agency is there and VW is there, which is- they're paying for it all and also because the agency created the boards, they want to make sure that you're not going off the rails in executing it. And also they can help, because they- it's a very different thing to cinema.”

Knows Want Different Helping Sitting Yeah Cinema Boards Agency Different Things Drivers Vehicle Rail Tracking Executing

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“Interestingly it's when you come to the comedy, that's where a lot of the discussion is. It's like ten people sitting around talking about what is funny. "Is that funny? Is that funnier than that? Is this slightly funnier than this?" I guess that's what it's like when you're making a comedy movie as well, you just have to sit around talking seriously about the nature of comedy.”

People Wells Talking Comedy Ten Sitting Discussion Sitting Around Comedy Movie

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“When you're writing it's a very solitary job. It's you and your word processor and a cup of tea. It's nice- that again, is another nice thing about being able to do commercials is, you can get out of the house and chase high speed cars around for a few days and then by the time you go back, you're kind of re-infused to write.”

Writing Kind Able Jobs House Nice Car Speed Cups Tea Solitary Nice Things Cups Of Tea High Speed Processors

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“If you work with any new technology, you have to expect that it's going to be a little problematic.”

Ifs Littles Technology New Technology

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“The cameras were a little twitchy, and you'd get less footage and less set-ups every day. The interesting thing about it was that you just composed images in a completely different way because we had big 3D monitors on set, and you'd wear the glasses and see the image in 3D.”

Way Littles Different Bigs Interesting Cameras Glasses Different Ways Interesting Things

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“Death Race was a very modern action movie and it used all of those modern action techniques with lots of hand-held camera, lots of punchy zooms, and lots of quick movements and quick cuts. In 3D, I didn't want to do that anymore.”

Want Hands Action Used Race Cutting Modern Movement Cameras Technique Action Movie Zoom Death Race

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“I went for a more classical approach to filmmaking with lots of dolly, track and cranes, and slightly slower, more choreographed fight moves, so you get more fight moves in one take.”

Moving Fighting Approach Track Filmmaking Cranes

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“3D really altered the way I shot the movie completely, and it was exciting because, after 20 years of filmmaking, I felt like I was making my first movie, all over again.”

Way Years Firsts Felt Shots Exciting Filmmaking Altered

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“What makes a mockery of a lot of these 3D conversions, where they're shot in 2D and converted to 3D. Having laid a real 3D movie, you realize that it's right in the production design. You design sets that enhance the 3D and you design interactive elements, like the rain or smoke. If you're shooting 2D, you don't know about that.”

Ifs Knows Real Realizing Design Elements Shots Rain Productions Conversion Smoke Shooting Mockery Interactive Production Design

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“3D is very exciting. I love it. I'm a complete convert. Everything for me, from now on, is 3D. I'm completely convinced it's the future of home entertainment, as well as cinema entertainment. I think it's a paradigm shift, in terms of cinema, and those things don't happen very often. The introduction of sound, the introduction of color photography and now 3D have been the big shifts. They happen once every 40 or 50 years, so it's very exciting to be a filmmaker, working while one of them is happening.”

“When we wrapped Resident Evil, we were a 3D movie, but it was no big deal. And then, Avatar came out and the whole of Hollywood was like, "Look at these grosses! 3D is huge. Let's all be 3D!" We just got on with doing what we were doing, which was making what we think is a really quality, kick-ass 3D movie, and we'll really be the first live-action 3D movie of the year.”

Thinking Years Firsts Looks Whole Bigs Action Evil Deals Quality Huge Hollywood Ass Kicks Big Deal Residents Kick Ass Resident Evil

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“When people see what real 3D looks like, they'll go, "Oh, that's why I spend an extra $5 a cinema ticket. That's worth it!"”

People Looks Real Cinema Extras Tickets Worth It

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“What happened with Final Destination was that the movie was in post-production for a long time and I think they changed a lot of the deaths, so a lot of those things were last-minute additions. Everything we shot is in the movie and it's all been designed. We didn't change anything. It's been a year of making those things happen, exactly as we had pictured them.”

Thinking Years Long Happens Lasts Happened Minutes Changed Long Time Shots Finals Productions Things Happen Posts Destination Last Minute Final Destination Post Production

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“We've been working on the visual effects for a year, so we're trying to raise the bar. Stuff will absolutely come out at the screen, but it will absolutely not look as bad as that tire in Final Destination.”

Trying Years Looks Stuff Effects Raises Finals Screens Bars Visuals Destination Tire Raising The Bar Final Destination Visual Effects

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“I always run the stories by Capcom. They read the scripts and give their comments. I would never want to kill a character that they really want to use in the next game.”

Want Giving Character Stories Use Running Next Games Scripts Comment

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“One of the reasons why Resident Evil is a very successful video game franchise, much more so than a lot of others that have fallen by the wayside, is that they have constantly evolved.”

Reason Evil Games Successful Video Reason Why Fallen Residents Resident Evil

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“For me, it's a multitude of things. In the modern world, there's a real genuine fear of loss of individuality and I think the undead speak to that. I also think the idea of the dead coming back to life, and this unstoppable foe that just keeps coming and coming, but rather slowly just chases you, is a real primal fear. It's like a fear of claustrophobia, heights or water.”

Thinking World Ideas Real Speak Water Loss Modern Individuality Genuine Height Multitudes Coming Back Foe Modern World Primal Unstoppable Undead Claustrophobia Primal Fear

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“There's something very terrifying about that and very primal about it. It's my belief that what horror does for people is that it provides that primal fear that, when we were wild hunter-gatherers, we had as part of our natural lives because maybe something was trying to hunt and gather you as well. We don't have that anymore in life and that's one of the things that horror films and action films provide for us.”

People Trying Wells Doe Action Film Belief Natural Horror Hunters Hunts Primal Horror Film Action Films Natural Life Hunter Gatherers Primal Fear

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“The other video game adaptation I did was Mortal Kombat, and I did that because I loved playing the games in the arcade. I play all of the Resident Evil games because I'm very much immersed in that world.”

World Play Evil Games Video Mortals Adaptation Residents Arcades Resident Evil Mortal Kombat

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“The idea of doing a period movie, some people say, "Isn't it odd that you're doing a period movie? That's a change of pace for you." And, I'm like, "Not really." When you're doing a science fiction movie, it's almost exactly the same.”

People Ideas Fiction Periods Science Fiction Odd Pace Science Fiction Movie

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“I've so got my plate full with Resident Evil and then The Three Musketeers, I'm just not involved with Castlevania. I'm not personally involved with the movie at all. I'm not producing that. After these two films, then I'm having a holiday.”

Two Film Three Evil Involved Holiday Plates Residents Musketeers Three Musketeers Resident Evil

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“I never really thought I went away because I've written all of the movies and I'm produced them all and certainly provided services about and beyond the average producer on two and three. I was on set most of the films and called action and cut a lot of times and did all that good stuff.”

Two Action Film Three Stuff Cutting Written Average Producers

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“I was excited about the fourth movie I guess conceptually because, what I felt we should do it, we should try to make it a conceptual jump like Terminator did to T2. It was still the Terminator franchise, but it was something kind of bigger and grander.”

Should Trying Kind Stills Felt Bigger Excited Fourth

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“Every time I go to Japan and meet Capcom it is like going to see the Umbrella Corporation. You ask them things and they won't give you a straight answer about anything.”

Giving Asks Answers Corporations Japan Umbrella

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“It's a very different experience shooting in 3-D because the camera rigs are so large. Everything we've become accustomed to in the last ten years as filmmakers, which is cameras getting smaller and smaller and you can just throw them on your shoulder and stick them in a car and do whatever you want, you can't do any of that now. You're forced to put things on dollies and track and cranes.”

Want Years Different Lasts Car Ten Cameras Sticks Track Shoulders Shooting Filmmaker Accustomed Do Whatever You Want Different Experiences Cranes Rigs

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“I think, as a filmmaker, my style of filmmaking is very well-suited to 3-D anyway, so it's not like I'm having to change a huge amount of the way I shoot to work in 3-D. I think you could probably dimensionalize some of my movies and they would make very good 3-D films.”

Thinking Way Wells Film Style Huge Amount Very Good Filmmaker Filmmaking

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“I had the opportunity to work with Aliens and Predators when Resident Evil 2 was being made and it was for two different studios. It was for Fox and Sony. They don't care about one another. They just want their movies. So it was very difficult to delay one and... So I had to make a very painful decision to kind of step away from directing the second movie and with the third movie it was the same.”

Want Kind Made Two Different Care Evil Opportunity Difficult Decision Steps Thirds Painful Studios Don't Care Aliens Foxes Delay Predator Residents Sony Resident Evil

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“I had this movie, Death Race, that was a passion project for me that I'd had in development for almost ten years.”

Years Passion Race Development Ten Projects Death Race

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“I really believe in 3-D. I really think it is the wave of the future for cinema.”

Thinking Believe Wave Cinema

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“You really feel like you're on the cutting edge and you know you are because all the camera equipment you take for granted doesn't exist for 3-D. So all the cranes with all the stabilized heads, they don't work on 3-D because they're all built for lightweight camera packages. As soon as you kind of put two cameras together and all the other crap that they need and the cabling to go back to the computers, we've literally, the cranes on these movies, they break after a couple of days.”

Knows Needs Feels Kind Two Together Break Cutting Like You Couple Computer Built Cameras Edges Granted Crap Equipment Packages Cutting Edge Cranes

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“I think 3-D across the board both in a home format and cinema is, it's going to be very big.”

Thinking Home Bigs Cinema Boards Format

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“There was a lot of pressure on me as a filmmaker to raise the bar and do better than before so, you know, I put a lot of thought and energy, that's for sure.”

Energy Filmmaker

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“I find it terribly distracting in movies when people do accents, I must say, unless it's terribly serious and the story is rooted in South Africa and you're doing a South African accent. But in period movies I think nothing can be more distracting than people doing accents.”

People Thinking Serious South Africa

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“My approach has always been to put 100% into the movie I'm making right now. I think sometimes filmmakers put too much thought into the grand franchise they're going to build. And guess what? If the first movie doesn't work there is no franchise, so I'm always concentrated on making the best, best possible movie right now.”

Thinking Sometimes Filmmaker What If

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

“Recently, I've been loving Monster Hunter! A film conversion is currently in planning.”

Film Monsters Planning Conversion Hunters

Author:Paul W. S. Anderson

Paul W. S. Anderson Books

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