One man writes a novel. One man writes a symphony. It is essential that one man make a film.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of diverse artistic expressions, specifically highlighting the necessity of filmmaking alongside literature and music.
In this quote, Stanley Kubrick illustrates the significance of film as a vital form of art that complements and stands alongside other creative disciplines such as novel writing and symphonic composition. He suggests that just as literature and music have their own unique contributions to culture and human experience, film is an essential medium that offers its own unique insights and storytelling capabilities that should not be overlooked or undervalued.
In practice
In a discussion about the significance of different art forms, this quote can highlight the necessity of filmmaking.
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.
There are elements of me in the roles I've played in the past. But people forget that Mary Poppins was just a role, too.
Most people wouldn't know music if it came up and bit them on the ass.
My concern has always been to paint nudes as if they were some splendid fruit.
I paint and sculpt to get a grip on reality... to protect myself.
Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom.
The first thing a writer should be is - excited. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiasms. Without such vigor, he might as well be out picking peaches or digging ditches; God knows it'd be better for his health.
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