Juan Antonio Bayona Quotes

'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.

You know as a director what you want, but the film is smarter than you, the film says no, the film says there's something more here.

Anyone who thinks Peter Jackson would fall for market forces around him rather than artistic integrity doesn't know the guy or the body of his work.

With a film, you try to keep your vision in it. I think with 'The American' and 'Control' I managed to do that.

No matter how big or new they are, I always look for the intention of the filmmaker first. Their intention has to be in the right place.

You can't make a film for your personal satisfaction. That is why I detest the cinema of people like Mani Kaul.

I only want to make movies I want to see. That may mean my career is somewhat limited, but that is my version of integrity. No matter how it performs or how it's received, I can be okay with it.

I think Van Sant is the most important American director we have. He takes the most risks. He's just pure to me.

When you direct a movie, you're basically looking at a story, the way you want to look at it. You bring that director's vision, and I'm totally open for that.

I don't like directing that much to want a career as a director for hire. I like to have as much creative control as possible.

All these directors, and I would include the Coen brothers and Quentin, have a very unique vision of what they want. They listen to ideas and make people feel like everyone is making the film.

The only way for me to be an artist is to be honest in my craft. If I veer from that, I'm not giving the investors what they want. Sometimes it's my job as an artist to know what I want to do, even when the fans tell me different.

I want my movies to be audience experiences. As much as I like Michael Haneke, I'm not going to make a Haneke film. That's just not in my DNA.

As a filmmaker, you have to understand the essence of the book and tell the story you want to see on the screen, and hopefully please yourself - because you can't possibly please everyone.

You make a movie that is about what you want it to be about and let people have their reaction to it.

There are only so many movies you can direct. And yet there are movies that I want to make sure make it to the screen in as honest a way as possible.

I never control a film. The film controls me.

I was always going to direct. I wasn't going to hand my characters over to anyone else.

I'm not someone who has to make a film at any cost. I have to find the right way to make it or not at all.

I look for good directors mainly because if you do enough of movies where there's not a real creative vision behind it, you start to turn into a robot and you want to jump off a bridge.

If I can make the movies I want, people are going to watch it how they're going to watch it.

The thing is, as a film director, you're essentially alone: You have to tell a story primarily through pictures, and only you know the film you see in your head.

My responsibility is to make a film and find my dramatic language; I don't have any political or social responsibility.

When you agree to work with a filmmaker, it's important that you accept their world. It's an adventure. I like that. I throw myself into the director's arms, into their universe.

The only thing I can ever do is make a film that I can respond to. I could not make a romantic comedy for college girls. I wouldn't know how that works.