When I made my first film, I think the thing was probably helped me the most was that it was such an unusual thing to do in the early 50s for someone who actually go and make a film. People thought it was impossible. It really is terribly easy. All anybody needs is a camera, a tape recorder, and some imagination.
Interpretation
Creating art may seem daunting, but it is accessible to anyone with the right tools and imagination.
Stanley Kubrick reflects on the initial challenges of filmmaking in the 1950s, emphasizing that while many viewed the endeavor as impossible, the reality is that making a film is achievable for anyone willing to invest in a camera and a bit of creativity. This statement underscores the idea that the barriers to artistic expression are often more about perception than reality.
In practice
This quote can inspire budding filmmakers at a workshop on creativity.
The reality of the final moment, just before shooting [the scene], is so powerful that all previous analysis must yield before the impressions you receive under these circumstances, and unless you use this feedback to your positive advantage, unless you adjust to it, adapt to it and accept the sometimes terrifying weaknesses it can expose, you can never realize the most out of your film.
Because I direct films, I have to live in a major English-speaking production center. That narrows it down to three places: Los Angeles, New York and London. I like New York, but it's inferior to London as a production center. Hollywood is best, but I don't like living there.
I've never achieved spectacular success with a film. My reputation has grown slowly. I suppose you could say that I'm a successful filmmaker-in that a number of people speak well of me. But none of my films have received unanimously positive reviews, and none have done blockbuster business.
A film is - or should be - more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what's behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later.
The great nations have always acted like gangsters, and the small nations like prostitutes.
Anyone who has ever been privileged to direct a film also knows that, although it can be like trying to write 'War and Peace' in a bumper car in an amusement park, when you finally get it right, there are not many joys in life that can equal the feeling.
I've been forty years discovering that the queen of all colors is black.
I think I have always tried to do the smaller films. I like to jump around and there is something really nice for acting in a smaller film... But I think now, Hollywood's movies certainly involve a younger generation for the most part and so... I love going back and forth.
Great art is the outward expression of an inner life in the artist, and this inner life will result in his personal vision of the world.
The painter must give a completely free rein to any feeling or sensations he may have and reject nothing to which he is naturally drawn.
There's nothing like living a long time to create a depth and soulfulness in your music.
The best art is political and you ought to be able to make it unquestionably political and irrevocably beautiful at the same time.
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