QuoteProject
If I don't fall in love with my characters, I cannot shoot.
Bernardo Bertolucci
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

An artist must connect emotionally with their work to create effectively.

This quote emphasizes the importance of emotional investment in the creative process. If a filmmaker or artist does not form a deep, affectionate bond with their characters, their ability to portray them authentically and compellingly diminishes, leading to a less engaging narrative or artwork.

Themes

LoveCharactersArtCreationEmotion

In practice

Example use cases

During a lecture on filmmaking, the instructor quotes Bertolucci to emphasize the need for emotional connection.

More from Bernardo Bertolucci

As a loyal believer in the Auteur Theory I first felt editing was but the logical consequence of the way in which one shoots. But, what I learned is that it is actually another writing.
Bernardo BertolucciRead
What always made me proud - almost blushing with pride - is that Francis Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg all told me that 'The Conformist' is their first modern influence.
Bernardo BertolucciRead
The problem in Hollywood is that they try to become the only kind of cinema in the world, okay? The imposition everywhere of a unique culture, which is Hollywood culture, and a unique way of life, which is the American way of life.
Bernardo BertolucciRead
I remember being young in the 1960s... we had a great sense of the future, a great big hope. This is what is missing in the youth today. This being able to dream and to change the world.
Bernardo BertolucciRead
For American filmmakers, the Oscars is like a mystic thing. For me, it was being in a mirror of my dreams when I was dreaming of Hollywood when I was an adolescent.
Bernardo BertolucciRead
When I shoot, I try to feel the body and the face and the weight of the actor, because the character until that moment is only in the pages of the script. And very often, I pull from the life of my actors. I'm always curious about what these characters and these actors are hiding about their lives.
Bernardo BertolucciRead

Similar quotes

We do not go to the theatre like our ancestors, to escape from the pressure of reality, so much as to confirm our experience of it.
Charles LambRead
When Basquiat was hanging out with Madonna and Fab Five Freddy, and all those worlds were colliding, people have to realize hip-hop and the arts were like this 'cause we both were outcasts: we wasn't allowed inside the galleries or inside Yankee Stadium. We were writing in the street and making music.
Jay-ZRead
Well, in the theater, I think you're actually more responsible for what is going on onstage as a director than you are in film.
Philip Seymour HoffmanRead
When you try to unravel something you've written, you belittle it in a way. It was created as a mystery.
Don DelilloRead
Architecture begins when you place two bricks carefully together.
Ludwig Mies Van Der RoheRead
I trust that if God gives me music for someone else, that's what He wants that person to have. I have to trust that that's what they're supposed to do and that's the music that should specifically be released for them and their ministry, for their career and for their audience.
Kirk FranklinRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.