Mike Figgis Quotes

It takes a long time to get a film made.

If I heard somebody else say, 'I worked on a movie for five years', I'd be like, 'What? How could it take that long? What were you doing?'

The great thing about being a producer on a project is that you get to see the ins and outs of every piece of the puzzle. There are so many elements involved in every aspect of a film's development that I don't think the average person is aware of, which is, I guess, why the whole process is referred to as movie magic.

Most people don't really understand what it takes to get a film made, and the struggles .I think anyone who makes a film goes through their own set of struggles.

When you're making a film, you don't really have time to consider what the whole of your film is. And then, when you're releasing your film and promoting your film, you're looking at it in a different way. Then, as you move away from it, you start to look at it objectively and think, 'What could I have done better?'

That's the other thing about working on movies, the commitment is years. That's one thing that's so frustrating about the process is that it goes on and on and on for years.

It takes a while to get a movie together, and they don't start talking books until the movie is close to being finished.

I want to make my own films from my own scripts based on stories I want to tell, but they take time to put together.

I got involved in script development from the beginning. It was nice to see how a film gets made right from the beginning. It was quite hands-on for me.

My time on the set is the least of my involvement. Most of my time is in pre-production and post-production.

Four months of preparation and about 12 hours of shooting turned into about 30 seconds of screen time.

Every film I do, I'm involved with from the very conception of the project.

The experience of making a movie is far removed from watching the end result. It's exciting, but it still makes me squirm.

In Hollywood, a lot of times when something is in development, it just takes a lot of time.

It's hard. It's hard to get a film made properly.

To get the film in your head on the screen, first you have to take it out of your head and explain it to everyone who is working with you. This will take work and planning.

Films are a long process and the script is the first part.

Making a film is hard because you're not dealing with the intangible. When you're writing, it's perfect because it's only in your head and then you have to take it into the physical world and that's where things drop off and things fall apart and you have to fix them.

A lot of times, when I'm approaching pre-production and my job, and trying to research and work on the script and whatnot it's always different.

I just remember when I came out of film school - and I loved film school - that the industry was such a mystery. How to break in, and once you are in, how to make a film; that is such a large undertaking. There are thousands of pitfalls.

A movie goes from several stages, from idea to script. As you continue shooting, you will make some adjustments. You're constantly adjusting. It's like a piece of music. You're constantly trying to make it better.

Movies are in a much longer production conversation before an actor is even involved. I always thought of actors as the last piece of the puzzle - so you're a tool.

I have stories that I'd like to maybe one day consider directing, but you need a lot of time to write and put it together.

'Alice' took over two years to make and took a great deal of planning, obviously much more than usual. We spent so much more time prepping the film, and that was unique for us.

I would love to produce a film. I have written a script and am in the process of writing another, so maybe it will happen down the road. I would love to do a film in Africa.