A Quote by Todd Strauss-Schulson
I've wanted to make movies for so long. I learned most of what I know from director commentaries and behind the scenes featurettes and criterions.
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I wasn't one of those kids who dreamed of writing novels when I was 8 or 12. I wanted to be a film director. I wanted to make big action movies. I loved movies like 'Die Hard,' 'Predator,' 'Aliens,' 'Raiders of the Lost Ark.'
I started out as an assistant to a director on two movies, Miguel Arteta. The movies I worked on were 'Chuck and Buck' and 'The Good Girl.' I didn't even know I wanted to be a director until I started working with Miguel.
I loved being behind the scenes and finding out how they make movies.
When I talk to film students, I always say, 'Buy the DVDs and listen to the commentaries, look at the making of, look at the behind-the-scenes,' because that's such a great learning tool.
When I talk to film students, I always say, "Buy the DVDs and listen to the commentaries, look at the making of, look at the behind-the-scenes," because that's such a great learning tool.
I grew up watching movies and being amazed at the animatronics you'd see in stuff like 'The Dark Crystal,' and all those kinds of movies. So, I'm always enthralled with how they can make it all work, behind the scenes, with the visual effects.
At The Humane Society of the United States, we know how difficult it is to prevent cruelty to animals in movies because so many of the animal welfare problems occur behind the scenes in training, housing, and transportation, long before the animals get on the set.
As an actor, as much as I'm interested in how you make movies and TV shows, even as a kid, I've always hated making of featurettes and special features on DVDs. I think it breaks the spell.
The process of making a movie has expanded in terms of effort and time for the director, doing commentaries for the DVD for example, finishing deleted scenes so they could be on the DVD, and doing things like a web blog.
You know, I think the film business is its own worst enemy, because it sells movies on 'behind the scenes' footage. It's seeing the secrets of how the movies are made, and now it's a real struggle trying to keep storylines and plots a secret.
Making movies is like a circus. You get together for a finite amount of time and you build the most extravagant thing you can, which requires teamwork. Most people don't know, but when you see something on screen, it looks perfect. If you go behind the scenes, things are very archaic. You only see the front of the building, not the back.
Even though I studied in New York and I know the American system, I come from France where I learned that with movies in France where the director is king. There's no such thing as a studio edit. It's the director's cut, period.
If anything, I learned most from being a huge fan of his and watching movies like Annie Hall and Manhattan over and over again - that influenced the kind of movies that I wanted to make more than anything else.
For a director, the most challenging scenes are the dialogue scenes.
I started off making backyard movies. I think it began in fifth grade - I'd get the friends together and we'd make little home movies. I always wanted to make movies but I didn't know how. It was always something really fun to do.
I never wanted to be a brand director. I didn't want that kind of stamp. I wanted to be more like Pacino or Dustin Hoffman or Meryl Streep or De Niro - you know, a chameleon as a storyteller - because I love all kinds of movies.
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