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You don't leave the film alone. You have a new audience, and you have a new medium. Why would you leave it alone? Film is not an antique. It's not a relic. It's not a Leonardo da Vinci. I don't want someone painting over a da Vinci or Rembrandt. But these movies aren't that.

William Friedkin

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William Friedkin
Age: 89
Born: 1935
Born: August 29
Film Director
Film Producer
Screenwriter
Television Director
Chicago
Illinois
Vilijam Friedkin
Movies
Antique
Leave
Antiques
Alone
Relics
Audience
Leonardo
Film
Medium
Someone
Mediums
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Would
Aren
Vinci
Painting
Rembrandt

More quotes by William Friedkin

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I'm not a fan of Star Wars. That is not for me. That is for my nephews and nieces. I don't get it.
William Friedkin
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I don't believe that Citizen Kane or Gone With the Wind, or any damn picture that you can name, would be better off in 3D. I think it's a gimmick. I find 3D distracting.
William Friedkin
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The digital process gives me total control over how I want the film to look. The films look like they did when I was first looking through the viewfinder.
William Friedkin
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If you call yourself a non-believer, you're referring to disbelief in something, and you're acknowledging that there is something to believe in or not.
William Friedkin
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You are always cheating for the audience.
William Friedkin
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To me, the art of cinema is the same as the art of painting. The artist takes a 2D medium and gives you the illusion of depth. If you look at any of the great paintings, you have the illusion of depth. Which is part of the art. The same with the great movies.
William Friedkin
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I have seen lampoons of my work. And I have really enjoyed them. But I would never do another version of The Exorcist.
William Friedkin
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I tend to be attracted to characters who are up against a wall with very few alternatives. And the film then becomes an examination of how they cope with very few options. And that's, I guess, what interests me in terms of human behavior.
William Friedkin
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Technique is of less interest than character and story.
William Friedkin
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The Blu-ray is the real cinematech of world cinema. That's how it's being preserved. All of these guys that are trying to preserve 35mm negatives? They are wasting their time. There are better ways to see and project this stuff. It's called digital.
William Friedkin
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The first work of the director is to set a mood so that the actor's work can take place, so that the actor can create. And in order to do that, you have to communicate, communicate with the actors. And direction is about communication on all levels.
William Friedkin
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The studios are making fewer films. They are making more expensive films. Profits are tougher to come by. Not only because of the expense of production. But also because of the expense of promotion and hype. To boil that all down, it's more about hype than it is about filmmaking.
William Friedkin
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I have control over every single frame on Blu-ray. If I want a scene bluer, I get that scene bluer. Originally, there was some fluctuation with the prints. If you made a thousand, or a few thousand prints, there is no control over any of that. But now I can make a master using the digital process.
William Friedkin
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I've seen my own films close to a thousand times in one form or another. When you edit them. When you shoot them. Then you run them over and over again for sound and music. Then you'd go to premiere screenings, and have to do promotional screenings in other cities. I can't watch any of my old films.
William Friedkin
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With all of my films that are on DVD and Blu-ray, I have spent weeks with them in a color timing room. Just changing or enhancing them. I have been desaturating the color. Sometimes I will make a scene bluer or redder. I do use the new medium. I believe in it.
William Friedkin
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I believe it's true that there's good and evil in everyone and it's a constant struggle to have your better angels prevail.
William Friedkin
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There is a thin line between the policeman and the criminal. The best cops are always crossed. The best cops are the ones who are able to think like criminals. But for a quirk of fate, they might have been criminals.
William Friedkin
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I have to see the whole scene in my head before I go out and do it. Which I do. I will envision the entire scene before I shoot it.
William Friedkin
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'Star Wars' gave birth to all the computer-generated superhero films.
William Friedkin
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With The Exorcist we said what we wanted to say. Neither one of us view it as a horror film. We view it as a film about the mysteries of faith. It's easier for people to call it a horror film. Or a great horror film. Or the greatest horror film ever made. Whenever I see that, I feel a great distance from it.
William Friedkin