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The challenge was the opportunity. When I read the first draft of Steve Kloves' fabulous adaptation - I hadn't read [Michael] Chabon's book at that time - what I was immediately captivated by was this group of characters that were at once so engaging and so messed up.

Curtis Hanson

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Curtis Hanson
Age: 71 †
Born: 1945
Born: March 24
Died: 2016
Died: September 20
Comedian
Film Actor
Film Director
Film Producer
Screenwriter
Reno
Nevada
Curtis Lee Hanson
Challenges
Fabulous
Read
Michael
Opportunity
Hadn
Captivated
Character
Immediately
Messed
Firsts
Challenge
Draft
Book
Group
Adaptation
First
Characters
Steve
Time
Groups
Engaging

More quotes by Curtis Hanson

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There was a long period of time when Sam Fuller had a lot of projects fall through and had a lot of difficulties getting a project off the ground. And I was able to observe him during that period, and see his incredible resiliency and courage as he faced this difficulty and just kept working.
Curtis Hanson
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Bad Influence, which is an early movie of mine that I'm very fond of. It was an unhappy experience when that picture got released, because it coincided with that ridiculous Rob Lowe videotape scandal.
Curtis Hanson
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I thought, If I could bring these characters [Wonder Boys] to life and lead the audience to react the same way I did, this could be a really special picture. Then I read Michael's [Chabon] novel and got even more enthusiastic about it.
Curtis Hanson
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That love of movies is very much alive in me.
Curtis Hanson
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As ridiculous as it is for anybody who knows how movies are made, there were people who actually wrote in reviews that this picture [Bad Influence] had been put out to capitalize on the scandal. Which, of course, would have been impossible.
Curtis Hanson
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When I first went to Pittsburgh, I had never been there before, and we hadn't even decided to shoot there yet. I just went to see the location of Michael Chabon's novel. Once there, I became aware that Pittsburgh is a wonder boy, in the narrow sense of the term, just as the human characters are.
Curtis Hanson
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So the city [Pittsburgh] was faced with that question of What to do now? because it can't turn back the clock and be what it once was. So thematically, it seemed like the perfect location for the movie. And then, it's a matter of how we get that feeling into the picture and make it a part of [Michael] Chabon's story.
Curtis Hanson
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I approach the movies I make as a movie-lover as much as a movie-maker.
Curtis Hanson
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Having done several of them and also loving other kinds of movies, I'm also tougher on suspense stories in terms of finding one that really excites and surprises me.
Curtis Hanson
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A day doesn't go by when I don't get a compliment on L.A. Confidential, for example.
Curtis Hanson
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I can't speak to how Michael [Douglas] approached it in terms of his process.
Curtis Hanson
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Now, grosses are listed in the newspapers and on television like it's a sporting event. It's ridiculous, because when you're watching a movie, unless you're an investor in the movie or a stockholder in the studio, what do you care how much it's grossing or how much it cost or any of that stuff?
Curtis Hanson
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Self-awareness and self-esteem. Those aren't female issues, those are human issues.
Curtis Hanson
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I had written the script a few years earlier for Paramount, then later got hired with Sam [Fuller] to write an entirely new script that he was going to direct. And that was one of the great thrills of my professional life.
Curtis Hanson
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So it's discouraging and, yet, when you make a movie like Wonder Boys, in a sense it's its own reward, because it does move people, it gets great reviews, and it becomes part of that library of movies that exist out there. As time goes by, it will find its audience.
Curtis Hanson
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Here [in Wonder Boys] I had this group of characters where you didn't know which were the important ones or what direction they were heading.
Curtis Hanson
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Hollywood, of course, is the city of illusion.
Curtis Hanson
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Whereas to write, all you need is paper and an idea, so I felt that writing might be my stepping stone.
Curtis Hanson
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We're not used to seeing movies, especially with physical action, when it isn't the man who comes in to save the day.
Curtis Hanson
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I don't think of the marketplace as teen-oriented or teen-dominated. I think of it as dominated by high-concept, in marketing especially.
Curtis Hanson