Mike Figgis Quotes

There's nothing quite like the idea of failing spectacularly to excite a film maker

The world is an infinitely fascinating, tragic and humorous place.

I made my first film on 16mm. Then I began using 35mm.Then I began working in Hollywood. And I began to really understand how films were made by professionals. I have to say I wasn't very impressed.

I never had any urge or desire to do like a big spectacular movie with thousands and thousands of extras. I'd rather watch paint drying. But put me in a room with three people having a hard time, like a character situation, and then you're into a really intense portraiture kind of concept.

The function of camera movement is to assist the storytelling. That's all it is. It cannot be there just to demonstrate itself.

There's a sadness to the human condition that I think music is good for. It gives a counterpoint to the visual beauty, and adds depth to pictures that they wouldn't have if the music wasn't there.

Obviously, I try to make the films work for an audience. That's the main point of making a film, and in retrospect, one can see that certain films, let's say Leaving Las Vegas, demonstrated its own success.

I like to work my camera as if it were a musical instrument.

The power of sound to put an audience in a certain psychological state is vastly undervalued. And the more you know about music and harmony, the more you can do with that.

In discussing the process with the actors, I made it clear to them that they could improvise but that the sum total of their improvisation needed to impart certain plot points, and schematic material.

When I do the music, I make the musicians listen to what's happening in the film. That way they treat the dialogue as if it was a singer.

I'm a huge fan of world cinema, because each country uses cinema in a very individual way.

It's difficult working with very rich actors, because inevitably they become a little spoilt, and the managers and agents tend to control things more than is healthy.

In a way, the history of jazz's development is a small mirror of classical music's development through the centuries. Now jazz is a living form of original music, while classical music has gotten to the end of its cycle in terms of exploring its form.

I started using film as part of live theatre performance - what used to be called performance art - and I became intrigued by film.

I might have a guitar or a piano on set to play something for the actors.

But I don't have such a strong desire to need to get away from filmmaking.

Each film is different. Time Code was very quick - a matter of months. Miss Julie has been on my shelf as a script for some seven or eight years. But then the shooting process was very quick - 16 days.

I play piano and trumpet. I studied classical guitar.

There's nothing I've done which I'm ashamed of or I thought was actually bad.

One of the things I love about cinema is the range.

I've held onto little musical sketches that I thought could be useful, and the more time that I spend doing them for each film, then the more I have to draw on.

I would certainly say that films like Time Code and the Loss of Sexual Innocence were far more rewarding to me in terms of being able to move forward as a filmmaker.

I've spent my life hearing people trying to apologize for music.

Films take up so much time, and with theatre, you do have to plan a period of time that you can be free.