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William Friedkin

William Friedkin Quotes

Film director

William Friedkin, born on August 29, 1935, is a renowned American film director. His works are characterized by tense and stimulating plots and profound social significance, with notable films including 'The Deer Hunter' and 'The French Connection'.

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All Film Believe Ifs Thinking People Want Digital Looks Made Rays Stars Way Actors Audience Directors Don't Believe Evil Good And Evil Guy I Believe

Famous William Friedkin Quotes

“Ive never seen a more terrifying film than 'The Bababook'. It will scare the hell out of you as it did me.”

Film Hell Scare

Author:William Friedkin

“There are many untalented people making millions of dollars in the film business.”

People Film Millions Dollars Untalented

Author:William Friedkin

“The studios are making fewer films. They are making more expensive films. Profits are tougher to come by. Not only because of the expense of production. But also because of the expense of promotion and hype. To boil that all down, it's more about hype than it is about filmmaking.”

Film Profit Productions Studios Expensive Expenses Fewer Filmmaking Promotion Hype

Author:William Friedkin

“I don't look back or analyze my films. I just make them. It's for someone else to look at.”

Author:William Friedkin

“There are films that I've made that I like a little bit more than the others. But the films that I mostly watch, and see over and over again, are not my own.”

Littles Made Film Bits My Own Watches Little Bit

Author:William Friedkin

“I've seen my own films close to a thousand times in one form or another. When you edit them. When you shoot them. Then you run them over and over again for sound and music. Then you'd go to premiere screenings, and have to do promotional screenings in other cities. I can't watch any of my old films.”

I Can Running Film Form Sound My Own Cities Watches Thousand Edits Screening Premieres Sound And Music

Author:William Friedkin

“With all of my films that are on DVD and Blu-ray, I have spent weeks with them in a color timing room. Just changing or enhancing them. I have been desaturating the color. Sometimes I will make a scene bluer or redder. I do use the new medium. I believe in it.”

Believe Has Beens Sometimes Use Film I Believe Rooms Week Color Scene I Believe In Mediums Rays Timing Dvds

Author:William Friedkin

“The digital process gives me total control over how I want the film to look. The films look like they did when I was first looking through the viewfinder.”

Want Giving Firsts Looks Film Process Give Me Digital

Author:William Friedkin

“I don't like 3D. I don't believe there is any film that I have seen and loved that would have been improved by a scintilla in 3D. To me, it's just a gimmick.”

Believe Has Beens Film Don't Believe Gimmicks

Author:William Friedkin

“In the case of a film like The Exorcist or To Live and Die in L.A., I saw the whole movie in my head before I went to shoot it. I never did storyboards, or anything like that. I had the film in my head.”

Whole Film Dies Cases Saws Exorcist

Author:William Friedkin

“You don't leave the film alone. You have a new audience, and you have a new medium. Why would you leave it alone? Film is not an antique. It's not a relic. It's not a Leonardo da Vinci. I don't want someone painting over a da Vinci or Rembrandt. But these movies aren't that.”

Want Film Audience Painting Mediums Antiques Relics Leonardo

Author:William Friedkin

“With The Exorcist we said what we wanted to say. Neither one of us view it as a horror film. We view it as a film about the mysteries of faith. It's easier for people to call it a horror film. Or a great horror film. Or the greatest horror film ever made. Whenever I see that, I feel a great distance from it.”

People Feels Made Said Wanted Film Views Mystery Easier Horror Distance Horror Film Exorcist

Author:William Friedkin

“All of the films I have made, that I have chosen to make, are all about the thin line between good and evil. And also the thin line that exists in each and every one of us. That's what my films are about.”

Made Film Evil Lines Chosen Good And Evil

Author:William Friedkin

“The thing that interests me is the good and evil in everybody. I don't have conventional heroes in the films that I directed, because I believe there's good and evil in everybody.”

Believe Film Evil I Believe Interest Hero Good And Evil Conventional

Author:William Friedkin

“The studios mostly threw away the negatives of the classic films. They had no interest in their legacy.”

Film Interest Studios Legacy Classic Classic Films

Author:William Friedkin

“Even with some of the best action films like 'The Bourne Ultimatum,' which is a great action film with a great chase sequence, so much of it is computer-generated. But that doesn't bother me. I think it works. It's fantastic.”

Thinking Action Film Computer Fantastic Bother Working It Sequence Action Films Bourne Ultimatum

Author:William Friedkin

“Star Wars is one of a handful of films that changed the zeitgeist forever.”

War Film Stars Forever Changed Handful Zeitgeist

Author:William Friedkin

“'Star Wars' gave birth to all the computer-generated superhero films.”

War Film Stars Birth Computer Superhero

Author:William Friedkin

“I believe today that there is no film and no shot in a film that is worth a squirrel getting a sprained ankle.”

Believe Today Film I Believe Shots Squirrels Ankles

Author:William Friedkin

“I don't go to the movies much anymore. There's very little that draws me. I watch mostly the older stuff, and I often don't sit through the new films.”

Littles Film Stuff Watches Draws

Author:William Friedkin

“I can't sit through the superhero films. But I watched Draft Day, and it was kind of sweet in an old-fashioned way.”

Way Kind I Can Film Sweet Old Fashioned Superhero

Author:William Friedkin

“We were just trying to make the films that we could get made, and to push the envelope. We didn't realize how far we had pushed the envelope. That all came later. That all came from books and articles about the golden age of the '70s. Believe me, to a lot of us, it was no golden age. The studio heads were very powerful then. They would fire guys right and left. They would look at your dailies and tell you what was wrong with them... a lot of stuff that doesn't go on today. Young filmmakers who are successful today, they don't often have that to put up with.”

Trying Believe Book Age Today Film Guy Realizing Powerful Successful Filmmaker Believe In Me Very Powerful

Author:William Friedkin

“There are certain things that happen during the production of, I think, every film, that you didn't plan, and often it's better than what you did plan. There's the question of either going with it or not.”

Author:William Friedkin

“But the audience is right. They're always, always right. You hear directors complain that the advertising was lousy, the distribution is no good, the date was wrong to open the film. I don't believe that. The audience is never wrong. Never.”

Believe Film Audience Directors Don't Believe Complaining Advertising Distribution

Author:William Friedkin

“The informing idea of what you want to say and do, that's what will take you from film school to professional - the idea. That's what is original to you.”

Want Ideas School Film Originals What You Want Film School Informing

Author:William Friedkin

“I tend to be attracted to characters who are up against a wall with very few alternatives. And the film then becomes an examination of how they cope with very few options. And that's, I guess, what interests me in terms of human behavior.”

Humans Character Film Term Interest Wall Behavior Alternatives Human Behavior Examination

Author:William Friedkin

About the Author

Born: August 29, 1935
Known for: Film director
Quotes: 65

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