Quotes by Yorgos Lanthimos - Page 2

As an audience member myself, I love to be in a position where I'm trying to figure out what I am supposed to feel or if what I'm feeling is appropriate or not.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Appropriate
Love Myself Where
Audience Member
Copy Quote
I work very closely with my co-writer, Efthimis Filippou. Ideas either start from him or me, and then the other one develops it, and it's a constant conversation.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Closely
Work Me Start
Develops
Copy Quote
Starting in Greece, you couldn't really say, 'I'm going to become a film-maker.' A 15-year-old boy in Greece in the '80s and '90s? There was nothing like that happening.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Greece
Happening
Copy Quote
The first time I was paid was with 'The Lobster,' because with the Greek films, we just had to pay ourselves - work for free while making commercials in order to survive.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Lobster
Commercials
Work Time Free
To Survive
Copy Quote
Rebellion is not always the right thing. Following the rules is not always the right thing. You have to think for yourself and identify the things that do not work for you.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Following
Rebellion
Right Thing
Rules
Work Yourself Always
Identify
The Right Thing
Copy Quote
For me, filmmaking is not about making statements but about exposing human behavior so people are eager enough to start thinking on their own and make their own assumptions.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Exposing
Filmmaking
Human Behavior
Statements
Assumptions
Thinking Me Start
Eager
Copy Quote
No studio picks up the phone after seeing 'Dogtooth' and goes, like, 'We have the next superhero movie.' Though if one did, that would be an interesting studio to work with.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Picks
Superhero
Copy Quote
The most important thing is to allow gaps and openings for people to make up their own minds - I don't want my film to be pretending to have one important truth to tell anyone.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Gaps
Pretending
Make Up
Openings
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I am not interested in representing reality. Actually, I am interested in representing reality, but that doesn't mean a naturalistic approach, which I think is kind of impossible.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Not Interested
Representing
Naturalistic
Copy Quote
I did have a lot of years watching and appreciating dance and theater and all of those kind of things, and it has informed the way that I work with actors and the way I approach things.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Dance
Theater
Actor
Appreciating
Informed
Copy Quote
I think it's been obvious from the beginning that my projects are not going to be something that people already have in mind. You can't be thinking about such things when you create something.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Obvious
Such Things
Copy Quote
All the talented and smart actors, they get it: as soon as it comes out of their mouth, they know if it's right or wrong. If the writing has a particular voice, they get it, and they can hit it.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Mouth
Copy Quote
Personal relationships, mood, chance, or anything like that can actually affect people's decisions, and when they're in a position of power, their capriciousness can affect the fate of a nation.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Fate
Mood
Personal Relationships
Affect
Copy Quote
Even today, I'm not sure why I make films or what makes me want films. I think it's other people's films. Whenever I see a really great film, I think, 'I want to make a film like that.' And then I never do.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Great Film
Great Today Me
Copy Quote
I always loved films, and when I decided to go to film school, it was with the excuse that I would go into making commercials, because that would be a proper profession, and people wouldn't think I was crazy.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Excuse
Film School
Profession
Always People Crazy
Commercials
Crazy People Always
Proper
Copy Quote
I used to be quite negative about going back to Greece and making something, but there is a certain kind of freedom that I've experienced while I was making films in Greece that is hard to replicate elsewhere.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Elsewhere
Greece
Negative
Replicate
Experienced
Copy Quote
I don't have time to read much. I'm trying to read 'The Brothers Karamazov' again, for a year now - I keep getting halfway, and then there's a lot of work, and I forget it, and I have to go back to the beginning.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Halfway
Copy Quote
I just do things that I'm interested in making and work with the people I'm interested in working with, and it's very important for me to maintain the creative control because, otherwise, I just don't want to do it.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Work Me Important
Creative Control
Maintain
Copy Quote
There are things to love about filmmaking in Greece. People are generous: If you get along well with others, the people around you will give more than they might otherwise be willing to give, more than they're supposed to.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Filmmaking
Generous
Greece
Love People Will
Copy Quote
I wouldn't know what to say about something that worked in a perfect way, so I guess, in everything, I try to find what doesn't work and expose it and then see how it relates to people and their stories and their character.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Work Character People
Expose
Relates
Copy Quote
'The Lobster,' at some point, was my most accessible film. Then I made 'The Killing of a Sacred Deer,' which turned out to be not as accessible as 'The Lobster.' It was the film I wanted to make and the story I wanted to tell.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Deer
Lobster
Sacred
Copy Quote
You tend to be more attentive when you shoot on film because, you know, it costs more, and everybody needs to be focused when you're filming something. Everybody considers it something valuable and precious, so everybody's focused.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Valuable
Attentive
Considers
Filming
Precious
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In any case, I would never make a film that was only one thing. Even if it's my warmest, most romantic film, I still want it to have the more cynical view of things, showing the irony and absurdity of things that we consider normal.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Absurdity
Irony
Only One Thing
Showing
Warmest
Copy Quote
I am calm but on the outside, mostly. When I'm on a film set, the stress is so humongous that I'm dying inside - I'm extremely stressed, but I do try, and... well, I don't try. I think it's my natural reaction to not externalize things.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Calm
Dying
Film Set
Stressed
Extremely
Mostly
Reaction
Copy Quote
I never think about it much, the visual aspect of it, until we start making the movie. I don't really think about it when we write. When we finish, and I start putting the film together, and we pick the locations, I do think about that a lot.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Visual
Locations
Copy Quote
The way I work, and the material we work with, I think if you analyze too much and have too many specific ideas, it just becomes a little bit too superficial, and then performances might become too self-conscious and project relatively narrow things.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Self Conscious
Superficial
Analyze
Work Way Ideas
Narrow
Copy Quote
By employing a certain sense of humor, you essentially get more serious about things and show conflict more effectively than if you were overly dramatic or only violent because that's a one-way approach that just forces audiences to watch something appalling.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Conflict
Dramatic
Employing
One Way
Sense Of Humor
Appalling
Effectively
Overly
Copy Quote
I think you can be much truer to real emotions and reality by creating something that on the surface seems artificial but, by then putting everything together in the end, is much more impactful than trying to use realism in every individual element of the film.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Artificial
Realism
Element
In The End
Truer
Copy Quote
It's hard for me to find a script that's perfectly suited to me, so even if it's a good script, I'll still have to work on it with someone and shape it, making it the film that I want to make. So in that respect, I prefer to do the stuff that I've generated anyway.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Work Good Respect
Anyway
Prefer
Good Script
Perfectly
Script
Shape
Suited
Copy Quote
The actors bring their own stuff and thoughts, and most of the time, I don't want to know what they are. It allows me to have more distance and observe what they're doing without having the knowledge of what they have in their minds, so I can see clearly how that feels to me.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Distance
Observe
Copy Quote
We were fortunate enough to shoot 'Alps' - write the script and shoot it - right after 'Dogtooth' premiered in Cannes. So we didn't just sit around and wait to figure out what to do because 'Dogtooth' was successful. We just wanted to make another film fast, so we just went ahead and did it.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Cannes
Copy Quote
I think there's all these unknown things you can tap into when you just leave things open, and nothing is forbidden. Then you allow yourself to mold that thing that has been created by freedom and spontaneity and flexibility. That's why I avoid limiting performances of actors and characters.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Flexibility
Forbidden
Mold
Spontaneity
Unknown
Tap
Limiting
Copy Quote
Provocative... I used to be defensive about it, but in the end, I realised it's exactly right. It's what we're trying to do - to provoke thought and discussion and, you know, shake people up to start thinking about things in a different way. I'm interested in messing with what they think is the norm.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Different
Discussion
Norm
Provocative
Realised
Thinking
Used
Thinking People Way
Start People Way
Interested
Thinking Start People
Defensive
Exactly
In The End
Messing
Shake
Start
Copy Quote
All of us have been through relationships; there have been periods of time when we've been single. It's something that everyone experiences. It's a matter of making that observation and then start to ask questions about it: Why is it like that? And why do we feel that? And why are we organized this way? Isn't there any other way?
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Observation
Organized
Periods
Time Start Feel
Any Other Way
Time Start Way
Copy Quote
Even before the economic crisis in Greece there was no structure for making films - no proper industry, and the structure didn't help filmmakers at all. So filmmakers had to help each other, and make very, very low-budget films. Now with the crisis, things got a bit worse, but filmmakers are still going to be making films. It didn't change that much.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Economic
Film
Helping
Copy Quote
I'm planning some films in the U.K., and it will have pros and cons. It takes a lot more time to set up a film in the U.K., because you can't rely on much. In Greece, friends show up and bring what they can and you make the film. Well, that's a bit simpler than how it really is. But when you make a film with proper industries, it takes more time to synch all these things.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Film
Planning
Rely
Copy Quote
It's true that there are younger people making films, and there are different kinds of films. This has created some attention in what's coming out of Greece, and people like to find a way to name this new ethnic cinema. It's not like there's a movement, or a common philosophy in making these films. They're just things that happened, and now people are paying attention to it.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Different
People
Philosophy
Copy Quote
I was making commercials. That's how I learned the craft. That was the marketing part of it: directing commercial for TV. It wasn't the most common thing to become a filmmaker in Greece. I started by saying I was interested in marketing and have a proper job in advertising and commercials. Basically, I studied film to learn how to do marketing, and commercials. As I studied film I learned I'd be interested in making films instead of commercials.
Yorgos Lanthimos /
Advertising
Common
Marketing
Copy Quote

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Yorgos Lanthimos Quotes - Page 2

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