Perseverance has kept me going over the years. Things rarely happen overnight. Filmmakers should be prepared for many years of hard work. The sheer toil can be healthy and exhilarating.
Werner HerzogRead
Very often, footage that you have shot develops its own dynamic, it's own life, that is totally unexpected, and moves away from you're original intentions. And you have to acknowledge, yes, there is a child growing and developing and moving in a direction that isn't expected-accept it as it is and let it develop its own life.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Creative work can take unexpected turns that may lead to something greater than originally intended.
In this quote, Werner Herzog conveys the idea that the process of creation, particularly in film and art, can lead to unforeseen outcomes. As one works on a project, it may evolve in ways that stray from the initial vision, and the artist must embrace these changes, allowing the work to develop its own unique identity and direction, akin to nurturing a child.
Themes
CreativityArtDevelopmentAcceptanceIntention
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about artistic expression at a gallery opening.
More from Werner Herzog
All quotes βHold firm to your vision but don't be a tyrant on set.
Werner HerzogRead
For a moment the feeling crept over me that my work, my vision, is going to destroy me, and for a fleeting moment I let myself take a long, hard look at myself, something I would not otherwise do--out of instinct, on principle, out of self-preservation--look at myself with objective curiosity to see whether my vision has not destroyed me already. I found it comforting to note that I was still breathing.
Werner HerzogRead
Without dreams we would be cows in a field, and I don't want to live like that. I live my life or I end my life with this project.
Werner HerzogRead
Coincidences always happen if you keep your mind open, while storyboards remain the instruments of cowards who do not trust in their own imagination and who are slaves of a matrix If you get used to planning your shots based solely on aesthetics, you are never that far from kitsch.
Werner HerzogRead
Martin Luther was asked, what would you do if tomorrow the world would come to an end, and he said, 'I would plant an apple tree today.' This is a real good answer. I would start shooting a movie.
Werner HerzogRead
Similar quotes
There's a difference between ad-libbing and improvising. And there's a difference between not knowing what to do and just saying something. Or making choices as an actor. As a writer also, as a person who's making a film, as a cameraman, everything is a choice. And it seems to me I don't really have to direct anyone or write down that somebody's getting drunk; all I have to do is say that there's a bottle there and put a bottle there and then they're going to get drunk.
John CassavetesRead
Because anybody can write, but not everybody invents new forms of writing. Gertrude Stein invented a new form of writing and her imitators are just "talents."
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Now sexual obsessions are the basis of artistic creation. Accumulated frustration leads to what Freud calls the process of sublimation. Anything that does not take place erotically sublimates itself in the work of art
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To be a film-maker, you are almost forced to be surrounded by contradictions... You must have talents of so many different kinds - talents that are contradictory.
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To you I am neither man nor woman. I come before you as an author only.
Charlotte BronteRead