Kathryn Bigelow Quotes

There's really no difference between what I do and what a male filmmaker might do. I mean we all try to make our days, we all try to give the best performances we can, we try to make our budget, we try to make the best movie we possibly can.

I did a pilot for Anything But Love in 1988 that didn't sell.

I've always developed all my own pieces, and they're time-consumers.

I can't stand outside myself and be anybody else.

One should make morals judgements for oneself.

There should be more women directing; I think there's just not the awareness that it's really possible.

Those of us who work in the arts know that depiction is not endorsement. If it was, no artist would be able to paint inhumane practices, no author could write about them, and no filmmaker could delve into the thorny subjects of our time.

The journey for women, no matter what venue it is - politics, business, film - it's, it's a long journey.

War's dirty little secret is that some men love it.

I'm drawn to filmmaking that can transport me. Film can immerse you, put you there.

Something becomes personal when it deviates from the norm.

You never think the universe will reward your first choice - it just doesn't work like that.

Right now, there's the illusion of order and civilization, but there's a tremendous amount of economic tension in this country and the educational system is constantly eroding.

I always want to make films. I think of it as a great opportunity to comment on the world in which we live. Perhaps just because I just came off The Hurt Locker and I'm thinking of the war and I think it's a deplorable situation. It's a great medium in which to speak about that. This is a war that cannot be won, why are we sending troops over there? Well, the only medium I have, the only opportunity I have, is to use film. There will always be issues I care about.

The urge to purge the material I come up with is, I guess, an ongoing process.

It's irrelevant who or what directed a movie; the important thing is that you either respond to it or you don't.

For some individuals - some soldiers, some contractors - combat provides a kind of purpose and meaning beyond which all else potentially pales in comparison.

My interest is to work in as uncompromised a way as possible.

The Communist regime didn't consider this to be a shining moment in history and assigned no heroism to it. They classified it as merely an accident.

I like high impact movies.

One of the elements in the film that really fascinated me was not to look at the world in bi-polar terms of us vs them or east vs west, which was a by-product of the Cold War.

Whereas painting is a more rarefied art form, with a limited audience, I recognized film as this extraordinary social tool that could reach tremendous numbers of people.

Character and emotionality don't always have to be relegated to quieter, more simple constructs.

You have to disengage at some point in order to be fresh.

I thrive on production. It feels very much like a natural environment for me.

My movement from painting to film was a very conscious one.

I'm definitely not drawn to shooting on a stage, I'm just not.

I choose material instinctually - at the heart of it are characters that I feel are fresh and original, and allow for an opportunity to, I suppose, explore uncharted ground.

When James Cameron brought me the script, which I developed with both Cameron and Jay Cocks, I wanted to make it a thriller, an action film, but with a conscience, and I found that it had elements of social realism.

I'm drawn to provocative characters that find themselves in extreme situations. And I think I'm drawn to that consistently.

Am I a 'woman of action'? I don't think of myself that way.

If there's specific resistance to women making movies, I just choose to ignore that as an obstacle for two reasons: I can't change my gender, and I refuse to stop making movies.

When I made my first film, I didn't think of it as directing, so it wasn't like I set out to become a director.

I don't know if I thrive in normal life.

I like to be strong.

I don't believe in censorship in any form.

I need to have my hands on the DNA of a film.

Perhaps the only thing in my favor is that I am very tenacious. I don't take 'no' very well.

I have always firmly believed that every director should be judged solely by their work, and not by their work based on their gender. Hollywood is supposedly a community of forward-thinking and progressive people, yet this horrific situation for women directors persists. Gender discrimination stigmatizes our entire industry. Change is essential. Gender neutral hiring is essential.

I don't want to be made pacified or made comfortable. I like stuff that gets your adrenaline going.

I realised that there's a more muscular approach to film-making that I found very inspiring.