Looking back now, if I went to film school, it probably would have helped knowing what the best of the best of foreign films were, but that wasn't the case. In some ways, I think that led to my originality, because I hadn't seen anybody else.
Interpretation
The quote expresses that a lack of formal education in film allowed for greater originality in creativity.
Wes Craven reflects on his journey as a filmmaker and suggests that not attending film school and having limited exposure to foreign films might have actually contributed to his unique perspective and originality in his work. He believes that not being influenced by established norms allowed him to carve out his own creative path.
In practice
This quote can inspire young filmmakers at a film festival.
That's what's great about the horror genre is that you're getting a load of people together in the cinema at the same place and the same time, having them all experience extreme fear and come out alive at the end. It's an uplifting experience, and there's a sense of elation.
You don't enter the theater and pay your money to be afraid. You enter the theater and pay your money to have the fears that are already in you when you go into a theater dealt with and put into a narrative.
If something comes along that is totally outside of horror, fine, but I find there's an immense amount of freedom within the genre.
You have to be aware of what the audience's expectations are, and then you have to pervert them, basically, and hit them upside the head from a direction they weren't looking.
I couldn't find an actor to play Freddy Krueger with the sense of ferocity I was seeking. Everyone was too quiet, too compassionate towards children. Then Robert Englund auditioned.
I was paralyzed from the chest down when I was 19, so I kind of put my head together about dying, and I think I've come to terms with it.
As practice makes perfect, I cannot but make progress; each drawing one makes, each study one paints, is a step forward.
I write a song because I want to. I think the moment you start writing it to make money, you're starting to kill yourself artistically.
It is part of the poet's work to show each man what he sees but does not know he sees.
Give me a guitar and I'll play; give me a stage and I'll perform; give me an auditorium and I'll fill it.
The writer has no responsibility other than to jack off in bed alone and write a good page.
It is godlike ever to think on something beautiful and on something new.
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