Paul Greengrass Quotes

Here's how I've lived my life: I've never been late to a set. I make films I believe in. I feel privileged to be able to do what I love.

Other writers, producers, and directors of low-budget films would often put down the film they were making, saying it was just something to make money with. I never felt that. If I took the assignment, I'd give it my best shot.

For me, I have to love it and feel something for it because you're going to be stuck with it for two years, and if you don't love it it's going to look like that on screen.

For me, one of my favorites, director-wise, is Tim Burton. I also really admire the work of actors like Sean Penn. He is probably my favorite actor because of his dedication and commitment to roles, and the ability to morph and change himself when he needs to. It's about dedication and commitment and a passion.

I cannot do a film I don't believe in, however safe it might be.

What you learn when you direct a film, even more so than as a producer, it's a marriage. It's like a relationship with that film so you've got to make sure that it's really something that you want to live with for three years or however long it is. So I haven't found the right thing to marry yet.

If you are going to do a film properly you have to give yourself completely to it.

'The Waterdance' was made for all the right reasons. Everybody that was involved in the film gave it their all.

I'm choosy to a fault. You want to hold out for a project that means something. You're the one who's there working fifteen hours a day, and if you don't believe in it, it can feel a whole lot longer.

I do my work to the best of my capacity. I don't pick a role looking at its length. I take up a film because I would like to see it.

I think if you're half-hearted you shouldn't go into acting.

I get very involved in my roles. I want people to think it's all really happening. If I'm in it, I'm in it.

You can recognise when a film-maker really, really cares about what they're doing.

If I'm gonna spend however long it takes to make a movie, give up 14 hours a day for however many weeks or months, then it's very important for me to know that I'm working with people who I respect and enjoy and that we're going for something together.

I've tried to work really hard on never phoning in the lyrics.

When I'm doing a movie, I'm not doing anything else. It's all about the movie. I don't have a wife. I don't have a kid. Nothing can get in my way... I've made a choice, so far, to go on this road alone. Because this is my time. This is my time to make movies.

Part of doing good work is caring deeply about it, believing in what you're doing, and getting incredibly attached to the characters that you're playing, the stories you're telling, and the people you're working with.

If I can't put my heart and soul into a film, I don't take it up.

I am so passionate about Pakistan cricket that I would never ever put myself in a position where there will be a conflict of interest.

The thing is that when you make a film, it is such an intense experience. It's like being married.

What you feel about a film is what you feel when you're in love with a woman. You fight for her love and it's always a struggle... there are misunderstandings and you're always trying to prove that there's more to you.

I've worked with a lot of people who have a lot of integrity towards cinema.

Whatever film you do, even if it's a children's film, you do with the same amount of sincerity.

You give a hundred percent of yourself to a film and then move on.

Hopefully, by the time I do a project, I already have a true understanding and love of what I'm about to do because if I don't, I'm not going to work on that project. I really want to have those connections so I can be truthful to the emotional aspect of what I have to deliver for the story.