The thing about film is that your eye is selective. Film isn't. You have to make film do what you want. Simply photographing something doesn't do it.…

- Gordon Willis

Don't get simple mixed up with simplistic.

- Gordon Willis

I don't really like directing. I've had a good relationship with actors, but I can do what I do and back off. I don't want that much romancing. I don…

- Gordon Willis

Good films are not made by accident, nor is good photography. You can have good things happen, on occasion, by accident that can be applied at that m…

- Gordon Willis

Zooms are lazy closeups. And too many people hang their hats on video assist; it's a way to avoid too much. Video assist helps people dissociate from…

- Gordon Willis

I'm a great believer in relativity when making movies. Relativity, in my mind, meaning "Light to dark, big to small, good to bad." You visually embra…

- Gordon Willis

I hate when somebody says, "This may not work." You'll never get anywhere with that. I've pushed a lot of people out of my way - I don't mean physica…

- Gordon Willis

The lack of perfection, that's the hardest quality of all, because you're fighting your instincts. You're trained to want to do things perfectly.

- Gordon Willis

I don't believe in doing thousands of cuts, then giving it to the editor to make the movie. 'Dump-truck directing' is my reference to that style of m…

- Gordon Willis