Director Quotes

First of all, what in this world does not revolve around money? But money is a big part of film, unlike a lot of other art forms.

Everything I do is always scrutinised. But that's all I'll say about that.

'Do the Right Thing' was my first union film. I looked at the rosters, and for the most part, it was white males. Especially the Teamsters. So we had some conversations.

'Do the Right Thing' was like the first film where I really felt comfortable working with actors.

Any time you talk about the look of the film, it's not just the director and the director of photography. You have to include the costume designer and the production designer.

Any film I do is not going to change the way black women have been portrayed, or black people have been portrayed, in cinema since the days of D.W. Griffith.

And one thing Hollywood does well is sequels.

A lot of times, we censor ourselves before the censor even gets there.

A lot of times you get credit for stuff in your movies you didn't intend to be there.

Since the days of slavery, if you were a good singer or dancer, it was your job to perform for the master after dinner.

It has been my observation that parents kill more dreams than anybody.

I think it would be very boring dramatically to have a film where everybody was a lawyer or doctor and had no faults. To me, the most important thing is to be truthful.

I don't dictate, you don't dictate to Stevie Wonder, not successfully.

I always give the example, if you turn on the radio today, black radio, Lenny Kravitz is not black. Bob Marley wasn't black: in the beginning, only white college stations played Bob Marley.

All directors are storytellers, so the motivation was to tell the story I wanted to tell. That's what I love.

Fight the power that be. Fight the power.

Don't think that because you haven't heard from me for a while that I went to sleep. I am still here, like a spirit roaming the night. Thirsty, hungry, seldom stopping to rest.

I think people who have faults are a lot more interesting than people who are perfect.

If we became students of Malcolm X, we would not have young black men out there killing each other like they're killing each other now. Young black men would not be impregnating young black women at the rate going on now. We'd not have the drugs we have now, or the alcoholism.

3D is quite a lot more advanced in animated movies; for live-action movies we're just taking baby steps, we're just in the beginning.

There's only one movie in my career I've had regrets with cutting it shorter, and I think some scenes maybe I shouldn't have cut.

There's a level of sophistication of filmmaking that's mind-boggling. Anything you need for your movie, there's an establishment that can make it happen really fast.

Sometimes, you have to get angry to get things done.

Sometimes films ignore other points of view because it's simpler to tell the story that way, but the more genuine and sympathetic you are to different points of view and situations, the more real the story is.

So many times you see beautiful lovemaking scenes with a lot of exposure or an awkward lovemaking scene, but I think it's very rare that you see it private.

Not taboo - it's just that straight actors still risk their careers commercially and economically. They have to please the crowd - they're movie stars; their image is their industry. It goes beyond acting.

I think the American West really attracts me because it's romantic. The desert, the empty space, the drama.

I grew up pretty much prevented from knowing anything from Communist China except that they were the bad guys that stole our country.

I find it hard to deliver straightforward things.

Everyone in the gay community doesn't think alike.