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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
First
Characters
Steve
Time
Groups
Engaging
Challenges
Fabulous
Read
Michael
Opportunity
Hadn
Captivated
Character
Immediately
Messed
Firsts
Challenge
Draft
Book
Group
Adaptation

More quotes by 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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I make that distinction only because I came to it strictly as someone who was just a lover of storytellers and cinematic storytellers.
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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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 wrote a couple of scripts on spec that didn't get made but got some attention, and I then got offers to write professionally.
Curtis Hanson
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Samuel Fuller pictures were both written and shot in such an unusual way that his voice came through loud and clear, and it made a big impression on me.
Curtis Hanson
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Hollywood, of course, is the city of illusion.
Curtis Hanson
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First of all, Sam Fuller left a group of extraordinary movies that are unique, that are Fuller-esque, as one might say, which makes them stand apart from any other director's films.
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 stopped doing that [photojournalism] and wrote some screenplays on speculation, because even though I wanted to direct, to direct you need a lot of money. Even for a cheap movie, you need film stock and equipment and actors.
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
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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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I approach the movies I make as a movie-lover as much as a movie-maker.
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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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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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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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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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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I grew up as a reader as well as a movie-lover, so many of the novelists I admired - and so many of the great filmmakers I loved - were self-taught.
Curtis Hanson
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I can't speak to how Michael [Douglas] approached it in terms of his process.
Curtis Hanson