I try and direct environmentally, so that people don't feel like everything is going to depend on what happens when someone says, 'action,' so that they can literally be swimming in the warm water, and at some point the race begins, and at some point the race ends, but it is about being free to swim.
In the future, everybody is going to be a director. Somebody's got to live a real life so we have something to make a movie about.
And I liked that whole idea that energy comes from not disseminating your ideas and talking about them.
It's more like can I build a group of characters and can I tell some universal truths that feel real and aren't formulaic in the spirit of filmmakers gone by who've told American stories that were personal and universal as well.
Probably having fallen in love with music and movies at a young age and then first learning about writing by kind of following the path of writers like Dave Marsh and Lester Bangs and being a rock journalist.
Well it kind of is project to project because as a writer I think you always write to some degree about things that you know or things that happened - but my favourite filmmakers, my favourite movies of theirs tend to be the personal movies.
Great music is its own movie, already. And the challenge, as a music fan, is to keep the song as powerful as it wants to be, to not tamper with it and to somehow give it a home.
Making a big Hollywood film that really affects people is as hard as making a small movie on a credit card.
I'm proudest of the fact that I've been able to make a few movies in the studio system that are slightly unorthodox and personal. But it's never quite as easy as you dream that it could be.
I mean, Internet radio, which is basically a guy with his iTunes putting it over the computer, is the only way you're going to get true eclectic music programmed.
'Elizabethtown' was a movie made for all the right reasons, and people who connect with the movie really connect to it. It's not the biggest group of people ever, but I still really believe in 'Elizabethtown.' It wasn't, like, a savage blow.
I don't think people are ever going to a place where they're like, 'I'm over stories about character and love.'
I think there's always satisfaction that comes from digging in and telling a story and being on the front line and writing about it. I think there's a venue available if you look. Even print journalism is in good shape in areas.
I'm always writing. A friend of mine once said, 'You avoid re-writing by writing.' Which is kind of a good point, because re-writing seems to be mostly about craft, and writing is just, like, getting out your passion on a piece of paper.
I always wanted to tell the story of how Pearl Jam is the story of lightning striking twice. As well as being the flipside of the classic rock tale where great promise ends in tragedy. This is where tragedy begins great promise.
Some of the hip-hop stuff people get into is exciting, because there's a passion and there's something to explain to a more mainstream audience, so you get these passionate writers who want to express their love for rap and hip-hop, which is cool.
I always loved movies, but I never thought I would presume to be a screenwriter and definitely not a director.
I have my problems with 'Singles'. To me, 'Singles' is the least successful of the movies I've been lucky enough to make.
Every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around.Collection: Change
The battered idealist. It's just my favorite character ... To me, a hero is somebody who is able to accept the environment of the world, deal with the stuff that's thrown in their path ... and somehow keep their heart.Collection: Hero
Take it from your own life, write what you believe in.Collection: Believe
Be positive, be positive. It's rough out there, but don't succumb. Don't succumb to the cynicism in the world.Collection: Being Positive
Optimism is a revolutionary actCollection: Optimism
The future isn't just something that happens. It's a brutal force, with a great sense of humor, that'll steamroll you if you're not watching.Collection: Aloha
I try and direct environmentally . So that people don't feel like everything is going to depend on what happens when someone says, 'Action'. So that they can literally be swimming in the warm water and at some point the race begins, and at some point the race ends, but it is about being free to swim.Collection: Swimming
The power of music is still with me, every day. It's one of the most inspiring things available in the world. I write with music. I write scenes in movies that hopefully can earn the use of some songs that are powerful to me. But, I think it just came from being affected by strong, personal art.Collection: Song
I always loved song writers who wrote songs in the first person, so it's kind of like that.Collection: Song
You will never know the exquisite pain of the guy who goes home alone. Cause without the bitter, baby, the sweet ain't as sweet.Collection: Baby
I write with music. I write scenes in movies that hopefully can earn the use of some songs that are powerful to me.Collection: Song
If you try to write something that's memorable, you'll never get it. Sometimes it's the way the actor says the words that make it memorable.Collection: Memorable
My dream is to do exactly what I'm doing. I love writing and directing, and being somebody that can write about an artist I love or make a film about it. That's great. I would leave the other stuff to those who do it much better.Collection: Dream
What you believe one day isn't what you believe the next day and I think every writer secretly believes that they may never be able to do write good song or script again, but they can.Collection: Song
I have heard your words and your disappointment, and I offer you a heart-felt apology to all who felt this was an odd or misguided casting choice.Collection: Disappointment
I always tell the girls never take it seriously, if you never take it seriously you never get hurt, if you never get hurt you always have fun, and if you ever get lonely just go to the record store and visit your friends.Collection: Girl
The power of music is still with me, every day. It's one of the most inspiring things available in the world.Collection: World
Many people don't have an outlet for their feelings or how they can express life and not everybody in a relationship is the kind of person who wants to. But if you can write, you can find a good way to do it.Collection: Writing
Hey, I don't have all the answers. In life, to be honest, I failed as much as I have succeeded. But I love my wife. I love my life. And I wish you my kind of success.Collection: Love Of My Life
When you listen to the music, you can also see the film or read the article, and it's all part of the same journey that you get to take with the artist you're interested in. It's a balancing act.Collection: Artist
That's how I am as a director - if somebody does a really good take, I can't help it, I'm not even aware of it. Actors really, really need positive reinforcement.Collection: Directors
I wanted to follow the path of music and feel that power, and I couldn't turn back.Collection: Path
So many of us are hungry for stories with more racial diversity, more truth in representation, and I am anxious to help tell those stories in the future.Collection: Diversity
I wanted to make a comment on the obsession with success and failure that we see a lot in America.Collection: America
The current state of music journalism is not bad, but it's not great at all. Some of the hip-hop stuff people get into is exciting, because there's a passion and there's something to explain to a more mainstream audience, so you get these passionate writers who want to express their love for rap and hip-hop, which is cool. But there are too many magazines, and the access has been diminished, so the quality of profiles has gone way down. Internet stuff can be really good, though. I like the dialogue between fans on the Internet. I think that's the best rock writing that's going on right now.Collection: Rap