You can't direct without a good crew.
I think one day I want to be on the other side of the camera-maybe directing.
When I move from being a cameraman to being a director I looked at a lot of other cameramen who tried to make the move. And in each case they moved up their camera operator to be the DP, which really meant they didn't want to give up being the DP, and really wanted to do both. And my feeling was if I was going to succeed as a director, I had to just be a director and give up the safety net of being a cameraman.
I design my shots. I walk the rehearsal as the camera and say 'this is where I want to be... I want this look.
I like to work behind the camera.
I actually started as a model builder and quickly progressed into production design, which made sense because I could draw and paint. But I kept watching that guy over there who was moving the actors around and setting up the shots.
As a producer, it's not unusual to find yourself on the field, backstage, often with a camera crew and living with constant anxiety of accidentally ending up in the shot.
Having been a cameraman, I think about, 'Well, if this was real, how would this be shot?' I try to inject as much realism as much as possible.
The instrument is not the camera but the photographer.
I love when I go on set every day, because the camera people teach me camera terms and grip terms - I learn all these new terms from different people on the set and leave feeling all cool about myself when I go out places.
My son works as a production assistant in television.
My younger daughter really loves makeup. She's quite good artistically. I could see her going into something possibly behind the camera - whether it's in film or still camera for editorial stuff - but she's very taken with makeup, and she's really quite talented for as young as she is.
I didn't even know I would be an actor; I always wanted to be a cameraman.
Film-making is a physically hard job.
In my films that I've directed, and my work in commercials and videos, I've rarely used handheld. It's just not something I'm drawn to, but I've seen it done very well.
I've always wanted to be behind the camera in some capacity.
I'm one of the few directors that actually shoots a lot in camera.
My first taste of the business was the glamorous job of pulling camera cables so they wouldn't get tangled while the football games were filmed.
When I got on my first set, I watched what the cinematographer was doing, and at that level in film school, the cinematographer has the most control. They're the one looking through the viewfinder, carrying the camera, framing the shots.
Directing is literally what I've always wanted to do, ever since I was a kid. So I love the career I've built behind the camera.
I have been trying to retire to the back of the camera for quite a few years, and in 1970, when I first started directing, I said, 'If I could pull this off, I can some day move to the back of the camera and stay there.'
I started off as a model maker, so the first part of my career was a model maker and then a motion control camera operator, so I shot a lot of miniatures.
I really like photography, and I'd like to do more of that kind of thing. If I had to choose a different job within the industry and do it well, I would love to do cinematography.
Sometimes I work on film sets. I've done this for 40 years. I always wanted to photograph on the set of an Ingmar Bergman film. Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity.
A lot of male cinematographers stick a pillow to their stomachs so they have somewhere to rest their elbows while shooting.
