A play, after all, is a mystery. There's no narration. And as soon as there's no narration, it's open to interpretation. It must be interpreted. You don't have a choice... Each play can become many things.
Mike NicholsRead
It's not a filmmaker's job to explain his technique but to tell his story the best way he can.
Interpretation
What this quote means
A filmmaker should prioritize storytelling over technical explanations.
Mike Nichols emphasizes that the primary role of a filmmaker is to convey a compelling story rather than focusing on the intricacies of filmmaking techniques. The essence of cinema lies in its ability to engage and move audiences through narrative rather than through technical prowess alone.
Themes
FilmmakingStorytellingArtTechniqueNarrative
In practice
Example use cases
In a film class, this quote can inspire students to focus on their narratives rather than worrying excessively about technical details.
More from Mike Nichols
All quotes →There’s nothing better than discovering, to your own astonishment, what you’re meant to do. It’s like falling in love.
Mike NicholsRead
You could say that it's in talking movies that inner life begins to appear. You can see things happen to the faces of people that were neither planned nor rehearsed.
Mike NicholsRead
The thing about being an outsider... is that it teaches you to hear what people are thinking because you're constantly looking for the people who just don't give a damn.
Mike NicholsRead
I've learned that many of the worst things lead to the best things, that no great thing is achieved without a couple of bad, bad things on the way to them, and that the bad things that happen to you bring, in some cases, the good things.
Mike NicholsRead
Plays, especially great plays, yield their secrets over a long period of time. You can't read it three times and say, 'OK, I got it. I know what's happening.'
Mike NicholsRead
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