As a director, I design every movie to be true to itself, and damn it if they like it, and damn it if they don't.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of artistic integrity over public approval.
Guillermo Del Toro expresses a strong conviction that as a director, his primary responsibility is to create films that are authentic and true to their own essence. He reflects a resolute attitude towards criticism, indicating that his artistic vision takes precedence, regardless of whether it resonates with audiences or not.
In practice
In a film class discussing the importance of authenticity in art, this quote by Guillermo Del Toro can be cited to emphasize artistic integrity.
I don't try to sanction other people's joy in monsters. I mean, I think the fact is, humor, fantasy - you know, like fear, desire or laughter - create genres of their own: comedy, melodrama, or erotic films or horror films... The boundaries cannot be defined. It's to each his own.
If you ask me, I alternate between truly bizarre, what you would call 'Hollywood' movies and truly bizarre, what you would call 'arthouse' movies.
But I think we are seeing a resurgence of the graphic ghost story like The Others, Devil's Backbone and The Sixth Sense. It is a return to more gothic atmospheric ghost storytelling.
The saddest journey in the world is the one that follows a precise itinerary. Then you're not a traveler. You're a f@@king tourist.
When you start with Super 8, you are everything. You're the DP, the sound man, the effects guy. And what I started understanding, by working for other people, is that the best type of director is someone who rose through the ranks.
The way they control a population is by pointing at somebody else - whether they're gay, Mexican, Jewish, black - and saying, 'They are different than you. They're the reason you're in the shape you're in. You're not responsible.' And when they exonerate you through vilifying and demonizing someone else, they control you.
The pit of a theatre is the one place where the tears of virtuous and wicked men alike are mingled.
I'm very much aware in the writing of dialogue, or even in the narrative too, of a rhythm. There has to be a rhythm with it … Interviewers have said, you like jazz, don’t you? Because we can hear it in your writing. And I thought that was a compliment.
It’s such a fun job, and it can be silly and light and about making people laugh. I think I was doing it a disservice by thinking it’s not something ultimately important. I always was saying, ‘I’m not saving lives; I’m not a brain surgeon.’ And that’s true—I’m not saving anyone from any life-threatening illnesses. But I get to tell stories, and that’s a pretty important task.
Each night about this time he puts on sadness like a garment and goes on writing.
Novels are fictions and therefore they tell lies, but through those lies every novelist attempts to tell the truth about the world.
We do not make photographs with our cameras. We make them with our minds, with our hearts, with our ideas.
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