But I'd be lying if I didn't say that every time you go to make a film, you're desperate to either do it better than you did it last time or to not repeat yourself.
Paul Thomas AndersonRead
I really subscribe to that old adage that you should never let the audience get ahead of you for a second. So if the film's abrasive and wrongfoots people then, y'know, that's great. But I hope it involves an audience.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of engaging the audience without allowing them to anticipate or outpace the narrative.
Paul Thomas Anderson discusses the balance between challenging the audience and keeping them engaged in a film. He expresses the belief that films should unfold in a way that surprises viewers, yet still involves them emotionally and intellectually. The quote highlights the delicate art of storytelling, where the audience's reactions are considered an essential part of the creative process.
Themes
AudienceEngagementFilmStorytellingSurprise
In practice
Example use cases
A filmmaker might use this quote during a panel discussion on the importance of audience reaction.
More from Paul Thomas Anderson
All quotes →No matter how many times you do it, you don't get used to the sadness - for me at least - of coming to the end of a film.
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My filmmaking education consisted of finding out what filmmakers I liked were watching, then seeing those films. I learned the technical stuff from books and magazines, and with the new technology you can watch entire movies accompanied by audio commentary from the director. You can learn more from John Sturges' audio track on the 'Bad Day at Black Rock' laserdisc than you can in 20 years of film school. Film school is a complete con, because the information is there if you want it.
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I always had a dream about trying to make a movie that had no dialogue in it, that was just music and pictures. I still haven't done it yet, but I tried to get close in the beginning.
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It's a gamble you take, the risk of alienating an audience. But there's a theory - sometimes it's better to confuse them for five minutes than let them get ahead of you for 10 seconds.
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We’re all children of Kubrick, aren’t we? Is there anything you can do that he hasn’t done?
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