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- “Some syllables are swords.” — Metaphysical poet Henry Vaughan
- “To me, music is no joke and it’s not for sale.” — Ian MacKaye
- “All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.” — Charlie Chaplin
- “As a cinematographer, I was always attracted to stories that have the potential to be told with as few words as possible.” — Reed Morano
- “Even though I’m writing about very dark material, it still feels like an escape hatch.” — Olivia Laing
- “It’s just one of the mysteries of filmmaking that sometimes you do something that you don’t even think it’s important, then it turns out to be.” — Lili Horvát
- “Ballet taught me to stay close to style and tone. Literature taught me to be concerned about the moral life.” — Joan Acocella
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Category Archives: Directors
“All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.” — Charlie Chaplin
“The secret of Mack Sennett’s success was his enthusiasm. He was a great audience and laughed genuinely at what he thought funny. He stood and giggled until his body began to shake. This encouraged me and I began to explain … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Directors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Charlie Chaplin, Hart Crane, silent films
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“As a cinematographer, I was always attracted to stories that have the potential to be told with as few words as possible.” — Reed Morano
“I feel like directing is more about who the individual is rather than if they’re a man or a woman. It’s kind of hard to generalize and group all of us female filmmakers into one group, like we’re all going … Continue reading
Posted in Directors, Movies, On This Day, Television
Tagged Handmaid's Tale, women directors
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“It’s just one of the mysteries of filmmaking that sometimes you do something that you don’t even think it’s important, then it turns out to be.” — Lili Horvát
Today is Hungarian director Lili Horvát’s birthday. The timing is fortuitous. I am overjoyed for the people of Hungary today, and also thinking of the theatre artistswho have been resisting within increasingly rigid and risky parameters. Back in November, during … Continue reading
Posted in Directors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Hungary, romantic drama, women directors
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“I don’t think you go to a play to forget, or to a movie to be distracted. I think life generally is a distraction and that going to a movie is a way to get back, not go away.” — Tom Noonan
It’s Tom Noonan’s birthday. He just died last year, a huge loss. Most well-known for playing supernatural-style “heavies” in movies such as Manhunter and Robocop 2, he got his start in the 1960s experimental theatre scene in New York City, … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Directors, Movies, On This Day, Theatre
Tagged Tom Noonan, What Happened Was
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“The films I find boring are the ones that have no space for the audience’s misconceptions.” — Josephine Decker
Unfortunately, considering Josephine Decker’s recent output, much of what I say here is no longer relevant and I can’t even say how much this saddens me. I don’t wish for her to not change, of course, but watching her abandon … Continue reading
“Every choice I’ve ever made has been dictated by a formless hunch rather than by strict logic.” — Peter Brook
“I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space, whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged.” … Continue reading
Posted in Directors, On This Day, Theatre
Tagged Ellen Terry, Glass Menagerie, Laurette Taylor, Orson Welles, William Shakespeare
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“Reality is always extraordinary.” — Mary Ellen Mark
It’s her birthday today. My first job was as a page at a local library. I would go there after school, shelve books for a couple of hours, and then head home. I ended up working there all through high … Continue reading
“I think my cinema is minimalist because so is my gaze: I’m very interested in people.” — Joanna Hogg
It’s the birthday of director Joanna Hogg, who hasn’t directed that many films (comparatively) and yet what she has done really matters, so much so that when there are gaps between films, people who always have her on their radar … Continue reading
Posted in Directors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged England, Joanna Hogg, Martin Scorsese, Tilda Swinton, women directors
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“A good director must be able to inspire whoever he was coaching so that the actor would live the scene. Make-believe must become reality.” — Raoul Walsh
It’s his birthday today. Raoul Wash directed a number of great films (in a career as vast as his, the names stick out), but one also thinks of the great PERFORMANCES in these great films, often from actors who were … Continue reading
Posted in Directors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Ida Lupino, James Cagney, Raoul Walsh, Roaring Twenties, White Heat
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