170 Quotes by Todd Haynes

I think when you’re trying to get a film together that’s had a long gustation process before I came on board and was trying to get financed in various stages, sometimes you’re trying to make it more friendly to the financial interests or the commercial interests of various parties.

In the end, whether I write the script or, in this case, somebody else did, there’s a point where you let it go when you’re making a movie. You just have to. The thing that you shoot is not what you imagined in your head – it never is exactly that. And it shouldn’t be.

I really want the audience to place close attention to the movement, possibilities of movement, possibilities of trespassing boundaries and observe what’s possible in different social settings, and different settings of class designation as well.

I sort of have a dog-minded single strategy but I am a little more open to stuff that’s out there, now and looking at scripts in the world and seeing if something that already exists can spark my interest and my curiosity.

You want everything for your kids that you didn’t have, but that that very desire can pollute and corrupt the good, basic American pluckiness, resourcefulness and down-to-earthness that we like to pride ourselves with, and result in aspirations of wealth and high culture.

The film division at Amazon is made up of true cineastes who love movies and really want to try and provide opportunity for independent film visions to find their footing in a vastly shifting market. They love cinema.

Films like 'The Godfather,' 'Chinatown' and 'The Exorcist' brought a realism and currency and understatement to their genres that we wanted for 'Mildred Pierce.'

I always learn a lot when I do so. You know, when you step out of your comfort zone and even your cynical zone, and open yourself up to what other people might experience and why they do so.

Serious films for grown-ups - 'Michael Clayton,' 'In the Valley of Elah,' 'A Mighty Heart' - these are big Hollywood films, but they have substance and craft and really beautiful performances.