Director Quotes Relay Race

David from Taste of Cinema has started a blog relay race in which us bloggers collectively gather and post our favorite quotes from film directors. Chris from Movies and Songs 365 has been kind enough to pass it on to me, so here goes.

Here’s the explanation of the relay race in David’s own words:

People love wisdom from great minds. As a cinephile, I prefer director quotes more than words from any other group of people in the world. Their thoughts on cinema not only provide insights into a deep understanding of cinema, but also open the window to their own films, their genres, and their filmmaking methods, thus the need to receive more exposure as their films did.

The rules and structure of the relay race have changed a bit, but here is the one basic rule:

Replace one director and their respective quote with one of your own

Here’s who has had a crack at the Relay Race thus far:
David at Taste Of Cinema 
Chris at Movies And Songs 365

And here are the quotes:

“I steal from every single movie ever made. I love it – if my work has anything it’s that I’m taking this from this and that from that and mixing them together. If people don’t like that, then tough titty, don’t go and see it, all right? I steal from everything. Great artists steal; they don’t do homages.” – Quentin Tarantino

“Actually, I can’t stand watching violent scenes in films; I avoid watching horror films. I don’t tend to watch action films mainly because I find them boring, but I watch the films of David Cronenberg and Martin Scorsese, usually in a state close to having a heart attack. I’m a complete coward. I make violent films as a result of my sensitivity to violence – in other words, my fear of violence.”  – Park Chan-wook

“Unlike all the other art forms, film is able to seize and render the passage of time, to stop it, almost to possess it in infinity. I’d say that film is the sculpting of time.” – Andrei Tarkovsky

“A film is – or should be – more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what’s behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later.” – Stanley Kubrick

“Why make a movie about something one understands completely? I make movies about things I do not understand, but wish to.” – Seijun Suzuki

“An essential element of any art is risk. If you don’t take a risk then how are you going to make something really beautiful, that hasn’t been seen before?” – Francis Ford Coppola

“I don’t like the idea of ‘understanding’ a film. I don’t believe that rational understanding is an essential element in the reception of any work of art. Either a film has something to say to you or it hasn’t. If you are moved by it, you don’t need it explained to you. If not, no explanation can make you moved by it.” – Federico Fellini

“When I make a film, I never stop uncovering mysteries, making discoveries. When I’m writing, filming, editing, even doing promotional work, I discover new things about the film, about myself, and about others. That is what I’m subconsciously looking for when shooting a film: to glimpse the enigmas of life, even if I don’t resolve them, but at least to uncover them. Cinema is curiosity in the most intense meaning of the word.” – Pedro Armodovar

“All my movies are about strange worlds that you can't go into unless you build them and film them. That's what's so important about film to me. I just like going into strange worlds.” - David Lynch

Who I’m Taking Out:

“I am a typed director. If I made Cinderella, the audience would immediately be looking for a body in the coach.” – Alfred Hitchcock

Ol’ Hitch is one of my favorite directors of all time, but his quote here is rather weak compared to what the others are saying. I certainly wouldn’t be opposed to seeing some of Hitch’s wisdom make it back on this blogathon soon.

Who I’m Putting In:

“Either I did away with that fear through writing, or in the course of writing, I discovered it was no longer so intrusive or threating. The bottom line is, it’s gone.” – Ingmar Bergman

Here, Bergman is talking about his paralytic fear of death, and how making The Seventh Seal somehow removed any fear he had of dying. That is precisely the reason I write creatively: Through writing, the fear will disappear.

Who I’m Passing it To:

Josh from The Cinematic Spectacle. Take it away buddy!