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Ti West

Ti West Books

Film director

Ti West, born on October 5, 1980, is an accomplished American film director known for his distinctive horror film style. His works are celebrated for their unique approach and profound themes.

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Related Quotes

“It's funny, because I don't think of my films as "slow-burn." I don't even know if I was familiar with the phrase until people started labeling me with it.”

People Ifs Thinking Knows Film Familiar Phrases Labeling

Author:Ti West

“To me it's not so much that the movies are slow-paced as much as they are about spending time building a relationship between the audience and the characters. If you don't spend an adequate amount of time doing this, then how can you expect to scare anyone?”

Ifs Character Audience Building Amount Spending Scare Adequate Spending Time

Author:Ti West

“I'm not sure I understand the compulsion to label things.”

Labels Not Sure Compulsion

Author:Ti West

“I think having funny characters is just one way of having three-dimensional characters.”

Thinking Way Character Three One Way Having Fun Just One Funny Character

Author:Ti West

“It's very important to me to find ways to relate the audience to the characters. This is the first thing to go in most mainstream horror films.”

Way Firsts Important Character Film Audience Horror Relate Mainstream Horror Film

Author:Ti West

“I just really like seeing mundane stuff in movies. It's realistic.”

Stuff Seeing Realistic Mundane

Author:Ti West

“I like movies that leave things in the hands of the audience.”

Author:Ti West

“I don't generally watch the movie [ The House Of The Devil ]. It's sort of like hearing your voice on tape.”

House Voice Watches Devil Hearing Tape Hearing Your Voice

Author:Ti West

“I've done it with all my films. I always keep an eye on the first time I show it because... I don't know. Neurosis.”

Knows Firsts Done Shows Eye Film First Time Neurosis

Author:Ti West

“You have to. But I generally try - I'll creep in the back. I'll be outside. I'll pace around. I don't really get that nervous about whether people like [my films].”

People Trying Film Nervous Pace Creeps

Author:Ti West

“I don't really get that nervous about whether people like it. You can't do anything about that. It's more technical. You spend two years of your life obsessing, picturing sound details, and you work so hard to make a movie a certain way, that you get there, and you're like - is it loud enough or whatever, so that this experience with everybody in this room is the fairest chance I can get. And then if you like it, cool, and if you don't, whatever.”

People Ifs Way Years I Can Two Hard Enough Certain Sound Chance Rooms Details Nervous Loud Two Years You Like It Obsessing

Author:Ti West

“If people don't like [my film], the ship's sailed. There's nothing I can do about that.”

People Ifs I Can Film Can Do Ships

Author:Ti West

“If you make just a straight scary movie, people are just - you don't know what they're thinking.”

People Ifs Thinking Knows Scary

Author:Ti West

“Humor is more so. For this, there's definitely moments that I think, "I know this part is really funny and I want to see people laugh." And they do and you go, "Yesss." That's really satisfying, because I'm so proud of the performances in the movie and everybody worked so hard.”

People Thinking Knows Want Hard Moments Laughing Proud Performances Satisfying

Author:Ti West

“Tommy Nohilly, who plays Tubby [ Valley of Violence], he came down to see the movie for the first time and I was like, "You've got to come just to see people react to your [big scene]." I knew that would go well, but it's satisfying to me when he's sitting there and it actually does.”

People Firsts Wells Doe Play Bigs Violence Like You Scene Sitting First Time Valleys Satisfying

Author:Ti West

“I'd been all hyped about it, I was like, "Please come," and to have that and know Tommy Nohilly is probably going like, "This is cool," it makes me feel good.”

Knows Feels Please Feel Good

Author:Ti West

“The movie [ The Innkeepers] is in no way a comedy, but I would put some of the funny scenes up against some of the funnier comedies this year. I think it's genuinely really funny, but it's out of the gallows.”

Thinking Way Years Comedy Scene Gallows

Author:Ti West

“That's what's interesting about people. It can be funny, but when [John] Travolta got there and did [comic moments] you're like, "Oh! This is really funny." Or when Karen [Gillan] and Taissa [Farmiga] do something, I'm like, "This came out so much funnier."”

People Moments Interesting Comic

Author:Ti West

“All those awkward moments - that's on the cast for doing such an amazing job. I think it was funny on the page, but when they did it, you definitely went, "Oh!" Watching it with a crowd that, like you said, was not expecting it to be funny, but then genuinely finding it funny, is totally a credit to their performances.”

Thinking Said Moments Jobs Like You Findings Pages Performances Casts Crowds Credit Expecting Awkward Amazing Job

Author:Ti West

“I did the movie [Valley of Violence] from two perspectives. You're with Ethan [Hawke] the whole movie, but for the first half, you're really with Ethan. For the second half, you're with him, but also you're with the bad guys because he kind of becomes the bad guy. No one's really good in the movie.”

Firsts Kind Two Whole Guy Half Violence Perspective Valleys Bad Guys

Author:Ti West

“The second half [of Valley of Violence], you're with the guys that you should hate, but when you start seeing what their real lives are, you're like, "I do hate you, but at the same time, all right - maybe take it down a notch." The complications of all that are what's so interesting to me, those esoteric details - that's what people will hopefully take away from the movie.”

People Should Real Guy Hate Interesting Half Violence Seeing Details Real Life Hopefully Valleys Hate You Complication Esoteric Notches

Author:Ti West

“It's not the plot [of Valley of Violence] - the plot is the reason to get all these things to happen, all these character moments to happen. It was always meant to have these two perspectives.”

Two Reason Moments Character Happens Violence Perspective Plot Valleys

Author:Ti West

“The first half [of Valley of Violence] was to endear you to all these people and give you all these archetypes that you're familiar with, and then the second half, just to see all those archetypes unravel like real people.”

People Giving Firsts Real Half Violence Familiar Valleys Archetype

Author:Ti West

“Typically, in Westerns, people who are in a Western feel like they're in a Western. It's almost like they know they do all these Western things.”

People Knows Feels Western

Author:Ti West

“From a performance standpoint, it just gives [actors] so much - I had such a great cast [ in Valley of Violence] - and it gives them the ability to go wild with it and to have performances that are memorable.”

Giving Actors Ability Violence Performances Casts Memorable Valleys Standpoint

Author:Ti West

“It's Ethan Hawke and John Travolta [in Valley of Violence]. It's awesome. They're awesome.”

Violence Valleys

Author:Ti West

“I always feel like the less you say when you're making a movie, as a director, is the best. That means everything's going great.”

Feels Mean Directors

Author:Ti West

“If you ever see the director pulling people aside, that means something's not working. Because you're trying to figure out why it's not working. But we would show up, we would talk about it.”

People Ifs Trying Mean Shows Figures Directors Pulling

Author:Ti West

“I always talk about movies a lot beforehand, and then we would get there, and I'd say, "Let's play around and see how it goes." And they would do it, and I'd go, "Well, that was awesome." It was really - I don't know, it was really special to watch them.”

Knows Wells Play Watches Special

Author:Ti West

“They're both [Ethan Hawke and John Travolta] so good. It's hard to explain. But they're consummate professionals and you see the little choices they make - you see it in their eye. You see these little details they do where you go, "That's why they're them."”

Littles Hard Eye Choices Details

Author:Ti West

“I mean PJ - James Ransone - he was a friend of mine, he probably heard all this stuff, but for the rest of the cast [Valley of Violence], we mostly just talked about their characters and things like that. That was the business at hand.”

Mean Character Hands Stuff Violence Heard Mines Casts Valleys Pjs

Author:Ti West

“Of course, we talked about Westerns we like with [James Ransone in Valley of Violence] , but it was always thematically in relation to the movie and what the themes of the movie were.”

Courses Violence Relation Theme Valleys

Author:Ti West

“I'm doing an over-the-shoulder shot on a dog. I'm putting the camera behind the dog's shoulder. This is craziness. You just accept it in the movie [Valley of Violence], but when you make the movie, it's the weirdest thing. There's dog coverage, like it's a person.”

Persons Behinds Accepting Violence Dog Shots Cameras Shoulders Valleys Coverage Craziness

Author:Ti West

“One of my favorite scenes of the movie [Valley of Violence] is when Ethan Hawke is sitting at the campfire with the dog.”

Violence Dog Scene Sitting My Favorite Valleys Campfire

Author:Ti West

“It's this long monologue [in Valley of Violence] with Ethan Hawke talking about life and everything with a dog. That's not in movies. Hopefully when people think about the movie when they go home, they're like, "That's weird. He's maybe crazy. He's talking to a dog the whole time."”

People Thinking Long Whole Home Talking Violence Crazy Dog Hopefully Valleys Being Crazy Monologues

Author:Ti West

“Jumpy is the most incredible animal of all time. The movie [Valley of Violence] is the tamest example of what that dog is capable of.”

Animal Violence Dog Example Capable Incredibles All Time Valleys

Author:Ti West

“Everything Jumpy could do [in Valley of Violence] was too much. If I put it in the movie you would all check out. When he wraps himself up in the blanket, that's as far as I could go, and that's not even close. The dog's amazing.”

Ifs Too Much Violence Dog Checks Valleys Wraps Blanket

Author:Ti West

“I found Jumpy on YouTube. I wrote a movie about a guy with a dog and was like, "What have I done? This is going to be a nightmare. We're a small movie and we're never going to be able to do this."”

Done Able Guy Found Dog Nightmare Youtube

Author:Ti West

“It's unreal. I mean, the dog backflips. It's amazing. Google Jumpy on YouTube - I had seen the dog first and I was like, "Y'all don't even know."”

Knows Firsts Mean Dog Google Youtube Unreal Backflips

Author:Ti West

“It definitely could have been a horror story [Valley of Violence], oh my God, if the dog was impossible. So could the horses.”

Ifs Has Beens Stories Violence Impossible Dog Horror Horse Valleys Could Have Been Horror Stories

Author:Ti West

“The hardest animal was the vulture. But the horses were great, the dog was great [in Valley of Violence]. It was really easy.”

Easy Animal Violence Dog Horse Hardest Valleys Vulture

Author:Ti West

“Ethan [Hawke] just - they got along great. He got to act with a dog, for real, and it felt like Jumpy was acting with him. It was a surreal thing to watch. When you watch the movie [Valley of Violence], you just kind of accept it. But if you do think about how we show - there's a dog and a movie star interacting - and you buy it. That's crazy.”

Ifs Thinking Kind Real Shows Stars Felt Acting Accepting Watches Violence Crazy Dog Valleys Movie Star Surreal Interacting

Author:Ti West

“Sometimes I look at it [Valley of Violence] and go, "How did we do that?" But it's a credit to Ethan [Hawke], he had done White Fang, so Ethan is like, "Oh God, that's right."”

Looks Sometimes Done White Violence Credit Valleys Fangs

Author:Ti West

“It's a combination of yes - making a movie about the characters - and then, also, budget.”

Character Combination Budgets

Author:Ti West

“We can't make a giant sprawling movie. We're going to make a small movie. And what we got is what I could get, performance-wise.”

Wise Performances Giants

Author:Ti West

“Toby [Huss] gets shot, or that part when [John] Travolta says this, or the part where Ethan [Hawke] says that cool thing - those details are the things that are interesting to me. So just acknowledging we don't have a lot of money [for Valley of Violence], so we're going to make a Western that's kind of contained, but we're going to make it super charismatic and we're going to make it memorable for what it is as opposed to what we couldn't afford.”

Kind Interesting Violence Shots Western Details Memorable Valleys Lots Of Money Charismatic Cool Things Toby

Author:Ti West

“I do think, even though I've made these genre movies, there's what happens in the movie and then there's what the movie's about. And for me, what the movie's about is so much more interesting.”

Thinking Made Happens Interesting Genre

Author:Ti West

“With my horror movies or with this movie [Valley of Violence], same thing. The subtext of this movie is what to take away from it. Plot is never something that's been my driving force as a filmmaker.”

Force Violence Horror Driving Filmmaker Plot Valleys Driving Force Subtext

Author:Ti West

“I don't go to see movies to see plots. I'm not interested in puzzles like an Agatha Christie story.”

Stories Plot Not Interested Puzzles Christie

Author:Ti West

“In general, I go to see the stuff that for me is, "Thank God for that actor, he's doing something that I never imagined; thank God for this filmmaker, because if this person didn't exist, this movie wouldn't exist." That's why I go to the movies. That, to me, is what's so exciting about this movie.”

Ifs Persons Actors Stuff Exciting Filmmaker Thank God

Author:Ti West

About the Author

Born: October 5, 1980
Known for: Film director
Quotes: 72

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