Top 62 Quotes & Sayings by Jon M. Chu

I always told myself after 'Jem,' I don't want fear to change my choices.

I love 3-D, and for certain movies it can be really great, and for certain movies it can be poison.

It's called 'Crazy Rich Asians,' but it's really not about crazy rich Asians. It's about Rachel Chu finding her identity and finding her self-worth through this journey back into her culture. Which, for me as a filmmaker, exploring my cultural identity is the scariest thing.

It's weird because movie-making, and especially movie theaters, have always been so old-school, and it wasn't until 3-D that a lot of them were forced to have digital projectors and even digital distribution.

When I was growing up, Asians weren't known for dancing. I knew all my older aunts and uncles did, like, ballroom dancing and stuff. And then you saw all those dance crews, like Quest and Jabbawockeez, and now they're, like, known for dance.

When you are young, coming into this business, you're told how the business works, and you feel very lucky to be here and want to stick around, so you believe the data, and you believe the conversations you're having where they say, 'You can't have that kind of lead because they don't travel here,' or, 'People will think it's not for them.'

The American culture is pursue your own happiness, follow your dreams. The Chinese side is sacrifice everything for your family; it's all about the group. Those conflicting ideas were always a battle in my head.

I loved 'The Social Network.' I think it's one of those movies that will stand the test of time.

Representation means having characters with layers, showing them as human beings, so we can relate or have mixed emotions for that character.

A hero that doesn't look like you makes you want to be something else.

When you're the only Asian in the room, the last thing you want to do is to point out you're Asian. And be the Asian dude.

I remember going to Taiwan for the first time and... I didn't realize that everyone looked like me here and what that'd feel like.

I don't understand why we're all connected wirelessly via a little machine that goes in our pocket, to everybody in the world, and you have to have reels for a movie.

I've gotten scholarships from the Asian-American Directors Guild of America society and things like that, and those things helped me, even if I didn't realize how much.

Hollywood listens to money and to controversy.

'Black Panther' is a phenomenon - it is all right in its own thing.

Once you see dance as a weapon - and everyone has a different weapon - it makes dance really interesting.

I love 'Dr Strangelove.'

I like to dance, but I'm not a dancer.

I took tap classes growing up.

Things happen in weird, serendipitous ways.

I think a lot of people, even if you're not Asian, you go to your place of origin where your family comes from, and you get this sense of, 'Wow - people look like me and talk like me and treat me like their son in the stores and like a cousin in the restaurants.'

My parents came to San Francisco when they were probably 19 or 20, in the mid-'60s.

Everyone who shoots dance sequences does it in a different way. Everyone who shoots fight sequences does it in a different way.

I just feel so lucky to tell stories and make up stories and share them with people.

I don't want to be the Asian filmmaker; I just want to be a filmmaker. I want to be Spielberg. I want to be Tim Burton.

Fear is a destruction of creativity.

Maybe I'm not the right person to do it... but I've learned that I have some power to help stories be told the way they naturally need to be told.

Each dancer has a different dialect that they speak.

I think that true love, fairy tales, the positive messages of positive stories - I don't think those ever die. Sometimes we like to hide them in sarcasm or irony, but they are still there, and they still move us.

I get a lot of emotion from my family and my friends. I think it's just communicated in a different way. When my family feeds me, they're saying they love me. They pick me apart to show that they care. One look from my mother says so much.

When I was finishing 'Now You See Me 2,' I remember thinking about exploring the Asian-American identity side of my brain.

Stephen Chow is one of my favorite filmmakers, and so groundbreaking.

I love Chinese movies.

It's time for storytellers to tell the stories that have not had the privilege of being shown to the world, and the audience will be there.

I had to see if I'm a real filmmaker. I mean, I have proven myself in movies and franchises, but am I an artist? Can I contribute something to a medium that I love so much?

What keeps me motivated is that I'm going to do a bunch of projects with dancers, and the people who compel me and make me love dance again are the ones I want to hire because they'll do that for others who are watching the thing. So yeah, it is difficult to crush dream sometimes, but they're all professional and they know what the deal is.

The thing that keeps me interested is that I love stories. I love going to movies and I love watching stuff that sparks ideas in my brain.

I fell in love with that movie [Now You See Me]. I liked the actors. I thought it was an interesting world. When they called me with the opportunity to direct the next one, the first question I needed to address was, what are we going to do to make it different? How can I add something to the franchise? If I can't add anything, then there's no reason for me to do it.

You're never going to satisfy everybody.

I don't feel like I need to be on an island to be enjoying myself and relaxing.

I may not get the opportunity to make movies for my whole life, but I'm going to make movies for the rest of my life. Maybe studios won't pay for it, but I'm going to do it because I love it. So, I just have to be proud of what I make, and what I'm trying to say in what I make. If people don't like it or people don't see it, that's beyond what I can control. I'm a storyteller, and people are going to listen or not and like it or not. That's only solidified over time.

I never knew Steve Jobs. I met him once, but I never knew him. But growing up in the Silicon Valley, he was the hero. He was the guy.

When I'm doing more than one movie because it makes one not the end of the world. It makes me feel like, "Okay, I won. I had a victory on this one, today. And I lost on this one, today." I can keep going back-and-forth.

Each movie is different because each audience is different. You're not dictated by what they tell you to do. You're more dictated by seeing symptoms of things you didn't intend, and how you can fix those symptoms.

I'm not the most sophisticated person. I'm not the smartest person in the world. But, I know what makes me excited about life, from Spielberg movies to Michael Jackson music videos to cartoons on Saturday mornings, which made my childhood.

I love 'Dr Strangelove.

I think the universe is so big you can't really deal with everybody.

I was never crying and shaking like the Beliebers do, but I understand the idolizing of a hero.

What always gives me peace of mind is that the best are the best. People who float to the top will always float to the top.

I always loved action adventure. It is something I always wanted to do.

I can't let fear kill my creative brain. Fear is the killer. Your bad choices come from fear. And I'm constantly combating fear. I'm one of the most fearful people, which may be why I'm so sensitive about it. I combat fear, constantly. So, when something like this happens, it only makes us stronger, but it reminds you that your strength is by being able to fight that stuff off and being okay with failure. If I get everything I wish and I get to make movies for the rest of my life, I'm going to have many failures and I need to be okay with that.

Going after any movie there is a lot of competition to try and get it.

A director is what a director wants to be. If you want to force something, you can fight to the death and maybe get fired, but it's your job to help push things along.

I love pop culture. I love gossiping about all the different stars.

When I'm doing something, it's something that I had a perspective on in my childhood, or now, but it may be different. I always can go back to what I love, but if somebody has a better idea, then I'm all for it.

I love the process of working with people and having things going on, all the time, and just trying to trust your instincts.

In all my work, I try to tell great stories that people want to go to the movie theater to watch, or want to turn on, and are compelled to watch it, over and over and over again, and will make a mark when they grow up.

I love the adventure of telling all types of stories and trying to conquer each one.

For someone like Daniel Radcliffe, it’s really fun to go against your image. He’s such a goody-two-shoes in Harry Potter. I just wanted him to throw off the gloves and be weird and quirky.