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You are always cheating for the audience.

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
Cheating
Audience
Always

More quotes by William Friedkin

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I don't like 3D. I don't believe there is any film that I have seen and loved that would have been improved by a scintilla in 3D. To me, it's just a gimmick.
William Friedkin
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In the case of a film like The Exorcist or To Live and Die in L.A., I saw the whole movie in my head before I went to shoot it. I never did storyboards, or anything like that. I had the film in my head.
William Friedkin
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Style is something that's extremely important, but it must grow naturally out of who and what you are and what the material calls for. It cannot be superimposed.
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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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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Ive never seen a more terrifying film than 'The Bababook'. It will scare the hell out of you as it did me.
William Friedkin
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But the audience is right. They're always, always right. You hear directors complain that the advertising was lousy, the distribution is no good, the date was wrong to open the film. I don't believe that. The audience is never wrong. Never.
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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All the great countries are at odds with one another over something, and yet if they don't cooperate they're going to blow up.
William Friedkin
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When you make a Blu-ray, its not the same as the print process was. You have little or no control over any print that was ever made. You are a victim of the 35mm printing process.
William Friedkin
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Edgar Allan Poe is considered the great writer of horror stories, perhaps the greatest - I will say the greatest
William Friedkin
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Violence is not funny.
William Friedkin
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Even with some of the best action films like 'The Bourne Ultimatum,' which is a great action film with a great chase sequence, so much of it is computer-generated. But that doesn't bother me. I think it works. It's fantastic.
William Friedkin
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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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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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One of my themes is that there is good and evil in everyone. I was not out to make these guys heroes. I really don't believe in heroes. The best of people have a dark side and it's a constant struggle for the better side to survive and to thrive.
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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You don't need great actors to do a 3D picture. All of this condescending stuff that they put out? Oh, we will always need actors. Bullshit! They are able to take anybody and put some markers on them, and have them walk through an empty room. Then they paint in the background.
William Friedkin
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'Star Wars' gave birth to all the computer-generated superhero films.
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