New Zealander Quotes

The vast majority of the CGI budget is labor.

The only thing about 3-D is the dullness of the image.

The most honest form of filmmaking is to make a film for yourself.

The big-budget blockbuster is becoming one of the most dependable forms of filmmaking.

Rivalry doesn't help anybody.

One of the first movies I ever saw was 'Batman,' based on the TV series with Adam West and Burt Ward.

No film has captivated my imagination more than 'King Kong.' I'm making movies today because I saw this film when I was 9 years old.

New Zealand is not a small country but a large village.

I think that George Lucas' 'Star Wars' films are fantastic. What he's done, which I admire, is he has taken all the money and profit from those films and poured it into developing digital sound and surround sound, which we are using today.

I mean, I didn't have a huge upbringing with movies, I guess.

I didn't want my kids having to pass through an airport named after their father.

For a lot of my childhood, I didn't want to direct movies because I didn't really know what directing was.

Filmmaking for me is always aiming for the imaginary movie and never achieving it.

Film is such a powerful medium. It's like a weapon and I think you have a duty to self-censor.

Everybody's life has these moments, where one thing leads to another. Some are big and obvious and some are small and seemingly insignificant.

Actors will never be replaced. The thought that somehow a computer version of a character is going to be something people prefer to look at is a ludicrous idea.

What I don't like are pompous, pretentious movies.

I was bullied and regarded as little bit of an oddball myself.

To get an Oscar would be an incredible moment in my career, there is no doubt about that. But the 'Lord of the Rings' films are not made for Oscars, they are made for the audience.

Why can't you write a great pop song when you are 85? Maybe you can.

Weave me a rope that will pull me through these impossible times.

There are some songs where I'll have had the music for 20 years and then finally the lyric will come through. That's not common but it does happen. Then there are other songs that come really quickly.

Just like any songwriter, I love it when people sing my songs.

It's a non-stop invention, this game of life, and as soon as you think you've got it, you lose it.

I've got kids now and they will constantly pull you into the here and now - they are very present and very vivid.

I'm a live performer and I love playing live.

I think quite a lot of people have a friendship or a love that's gone like that and it never quite reconciles properly.

I think a good song is a good song is a good song.

The joy of songwriting only gets messed up if you are trying to follow up a big success, or you are trying to create a hit single, or if you have conscious thoughts of a particular outcome for the music.

True contentment comes with empathy.