Quotes by Jason Reitman - Page 2

Things like Facebook have made you feel as though you're connected to everybody. You've got a thousand friends on Facebook, but you don't actually talk to anybody. You're not close to anybody.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Connected
Like Facebook
Made
Thousand
Facebook
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Everything I've wanted to turn into a film becomes something new and different when it becomes a movie... Each time I work with an author, I say to them, 'A book and a movie are different things.'
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Different Things
Something New
Time Work New
Author
Each Time
Work Time New
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I'm not going to have a perfect career. It's better to be Billy Wilder and make lots of movies and have five or six great ones than to make so few movies that when you make a bad one it crushes you.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Careers
Crush
Great Ones
Perfect
Wilder
Bad One
Billy
Crushes
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The first set I remember was 'Ghostbusters.' It was a scene in which the street erupted. I remember even at seven years old thinking, 'Wow, if you direct a movie, you can break the streets of New York.'
Jason Reitman / Film Director
New York
Direct
Seven
Streets
Thinking
Wow
Years
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Too many people believe in that [Alfred] Hitchcock thing that he only shot exactly the shots he needed for the dialogue he needed and I think that's bullshit, even if that was true for that singular filmmaker.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Believe
People
Thinking
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'Looper' is about what your 55-year-old self would tell your 25-year-old self over a cup of coffee. It's about finding love in the third act of your life. It's about overcoming trauma and the idea of true sacrifice.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Coffee
Overcoming
Sacrifice
Self
Act
Life Love Sacrifice
Cup
Finding
Third
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Filmmaking is finding a piece of granite and you start to chip away and then you have the shape of a head, the shape of the arm, you can see the shape of the face and the face starts to gather character. You have to find it.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Movie
Actors
Character
Filmmaking
Granite
Pieces
Arm
Chip
Finding
Gather
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People want to know if I have a moral standpoint that they should be picking up on, and the truth is, I don't. I don't want people to think that I'm trying to tell them to feel a certain way. I think that's cheap filmmaking.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Movie
Filmmaking
People
Standpoint
Thinking
Truth Is
Trying
Certain Way
Truth People Way
Picking
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Everyone wants to be loved; everyone wants to know where they're going in life; everyone wants to have a sense of direction and feel the next day is going to be better than today. We just all deal with it in a different way.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Different
Next Day
Want
Direction
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When I think of 'Nightmare on Elm Street,' there was a warmth to those teenagers that I related to. They were not aware that they were in the middle of a horror film, and I really loved those characters and I empathized with them.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Character
Horror Film
Nightmare
Related
Teenager
Thinking
Warmth
Teenagers
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I'm equally guilty of using technology - I Twitter, I text people, I chat. But I think there's something strangely insidious about it that it makes us think we're closer when in fact we're not seeing each other, we're not connecting.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Technology
Connecting
Guilty
Insidious
People
Thinking
Chat
Closer
Equally
Strangely
Text
Copy Quote
Unlike with any other art form, filmmakers have this unique web of festivals. There are hundreds. It is a democratic system in which you submit films, and if they are good enough, they play. The only barrier to entry is the submission fee.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Art
Democratic
Entry
Festivals
Form
Play
Submission
Submit
Unique
Art Good Enough
Art Form
Barrier
Fee
Films
Hundreds
System
Web
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When you're young, you want to make every kind of film: musicals, Westerns, horror. Slowly you begin to hear your own voice. I hope people receive what I do as small, personal films that are somewhat contrarian about their main characters.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Character
Horror
People
Voice
Begin
Hope Your People
Somewhat
Slowly
Musicals
Receive
Westerns
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I don't consider myself bossy, but I do know what I want. You know, I have a gut feeling about a piece of material, but I've never envisioned myself as the director on top of the hill with a megaphone in my hand, screaming at 1,000 extras.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Bossy
Feelings
Hands
Pieces
Envisioned
Gut
Gut Feeling
Screaming
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When I look at 'Napoleon Dynamite's style I'm reminded of how I spoke when I was an eight-year-old boy. It was just like capturing the essence of, 'Duh!' It was just like the stuff that I would say when I was like eight, nine, ten years old.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Duh
Dynamite
Eight
Essence
Nine
Ten
Capturing
Napoleon
Reminded
Spoke
Ten Years
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When I look at 'Napoleon Dynamite”s style I'm reminded of how I spoke when I was an eight-year-old boy. It was just like capturing the essence of, 'Duh!' It was just like the stuff that I would say when I was like eight, nine, ten years old.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Boys
Essence
Years
Copy Quote
Selfishness, narcissism, being uncomfortable in your own skin, not feeling connected to the world around you, feeling dislocated from family and youth, having a strange relationship with your childhood - all those things feel really true to me.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Childhood
Connected
Feelings
Narcissism
Selfishness
Skins
Strange
Uncomfortable
Youth
Skin
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I remember when I was like 19 years old and I started a desk calendar company to pay for my first short film, just so I could say one day that my daddy didn't pay for my first short film. And I really established myself in the film festival world.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Daddy
One Day
Remember When
Years
Established
Calendar
Desk
Festival
Film Festival
Short Film
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I used to have a group called Bad-Movie Saturday. Every Saturday, six of us would go see the worst movie that came out each weekend. It'd be noon in Burbank. It was just a running commentary. All executives - we would each talk through the movie and make jokes.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Running
Commentary
Executives
Noon
Romance
Saturday
Weekend
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I hate movies that tell people what to think. I'm proud that Democrats thought 'Thank You For Smoking' was their film and Republicans thought it was theirs. I'm proud that pro-choice people thought 'Juno' was their film and pro-life people thought it was theirs.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Thank You
Hate
People
Pro Life
Smoking
Thinking
Movies Hate People
Democrats
Republicans
Pro-Choice
Thank
Copy Quote
All the airports kind of feel and look the same now. Some are more beautiful, some are less beautiful, but for the most part you're going to find a Starbucks in every airport. You're going to get your coffee and the 'USA Today' or 'New York Times' in every airport.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
New York
Beautiful
Coffee
New York Times
Starbucks
Usa
Airport
Usa Today
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And as a director, you make 1,000 decisions a day, mostly binary decisions: yes or no, this one or that one, the red one or the blue one, faster or slower. And it's the culmination of those decisions that define the tone of the film and whether or not it moves people.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Binary
Blue
Culmination
Faster
Film
Moving
People
Red
Tone
Decisions
Director
Define
Mostly
Slower
Yes
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'Alien' asked ground-breaking questions about eco-politics and female empowerment. 'The Matrix' delved deeper into the concept of perception versus reality than perhaps any other film I know. But for some reason, we tend not to remember the significance of their writing.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Deeper
Empowerment
Female
Perception
Reality
Significance
Versus
Writing
Alien
Concept
Matrix
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And the biggest improvement I see between 'Up in the Air' and 'Juno' and 'Thank You for Smoking' is that 'Up in the Air' deals with the complicated human stuff in a way that my other films have not. It's a more articulated film, and because of that, I'm most proud of it.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Thank You
Air
Deals
Improvement
Proud
Smoking
Articulated
Thank
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Filmmaking is a completely imperfect art form that takes years and, over those years, the movie tells you what it is. Mistakes happen, accidents happen and true great films are the results of those mistakes and the decisions that those directors make during those moments.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Art
Movie
Movies
Accidents
Filmmaking
Imperfect
Mistake
Years
Art Great Movies
Art Form
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When you make a movie, you do it so piecemeal. You're doing it, not only scene by scene, out of order, but shot by shot, line by line. And there's this idea that the director has the whole thing in his or her head and they're going to somehow weave it all together in the end.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Shot
In The End
Weave
Copy Quote
Rian Johnson's 'Looper' is inventive, entertaining, and thought-provoking in every way a movie can be. It is in fact the kind of movie that reminds us why we watch them and make them, a beautifully told story that deserves to be not only remembered, but acknowledged for its writing.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Entertaining
Johnson
Remembered
Thought Provoking
Watches
Writing
Acknowledged
Beautifully
Inventive
Copy Quote
It's easy to get caught up in a moment and think, 'Oh, I've been offered some giant studio film or a superhero franchise or some actor wants to meet with me about a project they want to do.' And it's easy to get caught up in a moment because it's flattering. But you can't do a movie because it's flattering.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Caught
Flattering
Giants
Superhero
Thinking
Project
Franchise
Giant
Offered
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I think romance is a tool, comedy is a tool and drama is a tool. I really just want to tell stories that challenge the viewer, move people, make you laugh, perhaps push an idea about being open-minded but never settle on a genre or an opinion. I hate genre. I like movies that are original in their approach.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Approach
Drama
Genre
Hate
Moving
Romance
Movies Hate People
Push
Settle
Viewer
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I hear the way people talk about the children of famous people. They're not treated very well. The presumptions are usually quite awful. So I tried to establish myself with a couple of movies. After 'Juno' I thought: 'I think I've defined myself enough as my own director that I'd love to work with my father.'
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Defined
Love Work Movies
Establish
Famous People
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I laugh a lot in horror films. If I'm scared in a horror film, I try to think about what's scaring me... particularly, if it's a bad movie, but something they're doing still works. It's the same way I look at comedy. I've always had an intellectual view of comedy, and what makes people laugh, and how does it work.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Horror Film
People
Thinking
Views
Work Always Me
Bad Movie
Scaring
Copy Quote
As far as writing, I like watching bad movies. Nothing stops me in my tracks more than watching a great film like 'The Godfather' or 'Dog Day Afternoon' or 'The Graduate.' You watch one of those, and you never want to write again. Whereas with bad movies, it makes you think, If that counts, I certainly could write.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Afternoon
Dog
Thinking
Writing
Great Movies Me
Counts
Godfather
Graduate
The Graduate
Tracks
Whereas
Copy Quote
Growing up sucks, doesn't it? I understand why people wouldn't want to get old - but it'd be one thing if we became a culture obsessed with eating right, doing yoga, going to therapy and becoming at one with ourselves. That be great. But we don't do that. We seem to be obsessed with all the wrong ways to stay young.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Yoga
Becoming
Eating
Growing Up
People
Therapy
Want
Great Culture People
Became
Seem
Copy Quote
Well, Toronto, I consider to be the birthplace of my films. I've made three films and this is the third one to premiere here in the same theater on the same day at the same time - they are my audience. They're the people that I think about while I'm writing, directing, and editing. I specifically make movies for them.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Birthplace
Editing
Theater
Thinking
Toronto
Writing
Time Movies Day
Consider
Directing
Premiere
Same Time
Specifically
Third
Copy Quote
Can you design a Rorschach test that's going to make everyone feel something every time - and that looks like a Rorschach test? It's easy to show a picture of a kitten or a car accident. The question is, how abstract can you get and still get the audience to feel something when they don't know what's happening to them?
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Design
Abstract
Car Accident
Looks
Rorschach
Time Car Feel
Picture
Accident
Every Time
Happening
Test
Copy Quote
I'm trying to figure myself out through my movies. Whether it's big stuff like what we're doing here, or little stuff like why aren't I happier? With every film I feel like I'm apologising for something. I feel I'm most successful when I'm looking for something that embarrasses me about my character that I'd like to expose.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Character
Successful
Trying
Copy Quote
Most people are nostalgic in a way that they're fond of the past, but they still are happy that they are where they are now. You know, when you say, 'Oh, high school was this or that,' you don't want to go back. No matter how much you loved high school, you don't want to actually be back in high school. I certainly wouldn't.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Nostalgic
Past
People
School
Past People Way
Fond
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I have a strange fascination with the Midwest. I'm waiting to find out that my parents are actually from the Midwest. I grew up in Beverly Hills, up the street, and I just feel comfortable there. I've shot in Minneapolis, in Detroit, in St. Louis, in Omaha - they would say they're the Plains, not the Midwest - and I love it.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Beverly Hills
Detroit
Fascination
Hills
Minneapolis
Omaha
Parent
Strange
Waiting
Louis
Shot
Beverly
Plains
St. Louis
Copy Quote
I'm trying to figure myself out through my movies. Whether it's big stuff like what we're doing here, or little stuff like, 'Why aren't I happier?' With every film I feel like I'm apologising for something. I feel I'm most successful when I'm looking for something that embarrasses me about my character that I'd like to expose.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Big Stuff
Movies Myself Character
Expose
Copy Quote
There certainly is no secret in that there are plenty of people who don't like plenty of my movies. Each one of my films is personal; each one of my films is emotionally autobiographical. And I like directors who do that. With each one of my films, I'm exploring one of my own issues and I try to expose myself a little in the film.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Exploring
Plenty
Movies Myself People
Autobiographical
Each One
Emotionally
Expose
No Secret
Copy Quote
From the onset of the 'Live-Read' series, we wanted to hit all the major writers and Woody Allen is simply one of the greatest screenwriters of all time. He has ability to match pathos and comedy and drama and then turn it all on a dime. If you're going to make a series based on dialogue, you can't find much better than Woody Allen.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Comedy
Dialogue
Dimes
Drama
Pathos
Woody
Allen
Time Better Find
Dime
Match
Woody Allen
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I'd done table reads for my own screenplays, and I always thought they were so much fun. Why couldn't we do these for other classic screenplays and bring them to life? You can experience live theater, where you get to see plays produced by different directors and different casts, but there's really nothing like that for movie scripts.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Casts
Classic
Directors
Fun
Live Theater
Play
Screenplays
Scripts
Life Experience Always
Life Experience Done
Plays
Produced
Reads
So Much Fun
Table
Copy Quote
Growing up the son of a director has made me very aware of the various turns that a directing career can take. Sometimes your films turn out exactly as you want. Sometimes they don't. I spent a lot of my childhood on sets. I think as a joke, my father gave me a line of dialogue in each of his films during the worst moments of my puberty.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Dialogue
Father
Growing Up
Puberty
Son
Turns
Directing
Childhood Father Me
Sets
Copy Quote
I'm really specific in the way that I shoot. I've always had a very good sense of what I need in the editing room. I used to shoot in a way that drew more attention to the camera and I've tried, in each film, to draw less and less attention to the camera. I think when you pay attention to the shots, you're aware of the fact that there's a director.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Cameras
Editing
Thinking
Copy Quote
Look, any guy who tells you that he didn't have some fears is lying. Of course, it's scary becoming a dad for a variety of reasons. That's not to say it isn't thrilling. It was. It was very exciting and in some ways was the greatest thing that's happened in my life. But it's also completely terrifying and you're saying goodbye to a portion of your life and that's just an emotional experience.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Dad
Goodbye
Lying
Copy Quote
Directing is a reactionary job more than a creation job. The job is to react whether it's moment one, the first time you read the script or see an article or read a book or notice something happen on the street and have an idea for a movie, and it just continues from there on in. You're just reacting to dialogue, a performance, an audition, a headache, a piece of furniture, a piece of clothing.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Jobs
Book
Ideas
Copy Quote
The first thing I say when people ask what's the difference [between doing TV and film], is that film has an ending and TV doesn't. When I write a film, all I think about is where the thing ends and how to get the audience there. And in television, it can't end. You need the audience to return the next week. It kind of shifts the drive of the story. But I find that more as a writer than as a director.
Jason Reitman / Film Director
Next Week
Thinking
Writing
Copy Quote

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Jason Reitman Quotes - Page 2

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