The best cinema is about ethics.
In the moment of making films, I want to share my observations of life, not of other films.
Marketing has supplanted story as the primary force behind the worthiness of making a film, and that's a very sad thing. It's film only as a function of consumerism rather than as an important component of our culture, and that's everywhere around the world.
What is filmmaking but groping in the dark?
You begin a film more with questions than with direct intentions. It's more of an exploration and discovery.
As the years go by and I make more films, I am increasingly interested in capturing place as a vivid backdrop for my films.
I think if you watch most of my films with the sound off, you could still tell what's going on.
There's a bizarre insistence on how a story should be. 'The protagonist must be sympathetic!' they say. Whatever that means. I never engage in that discussion. I never use that word, 'sympathetic.' I just know 'interesting.'
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.
Omaha, like Rome, is built on seven hills.
If you're trying to recreate life, the life that you best know is the one you grew up with.
In a sense, 'Schmidt' is the most Omaha of my films. But have I gotten it right? I'm not sure. Did Fellini get Rome right? Did Ozu get Tokyo right?
When I'm shooting, I don't care who the star is. I have an actor playing a part, and I'm serving the script, not serving anyone's career.
I'm hoping one day I can make one really good film.
I never wanted money worries to slow me down or make me take a job I didn't want.
I think cynicism lasts. Sentimentality ages, dates quickly.
I still have energy and some degree of youth, which is what a filmmaker needs.
You look at how many years you have left, and you start to think: 'How many more films do I have in me?'
The biggest fear I have is to die with regrets, and of course that will come true.
They say you can do honest, sincere work for decades, but you're given in general a 10-year period when what you do touches the zeitgeist - when you're relevant. And I'm aware of that, and I don't want my time to go by.
