Jonathan Demme

I was really hooked on movies at a very young age. The Manchurian Candidate (1962), along with Seven Days in May (1964), Fail-Safe (1964) and Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) were this quartet of anarchistic black-and-white American movies, each of which did things that you just didn't do in American movies, especially in the realm of irreverence toward politics and government institutions and the Army. I was what, 16, it was shocking, it was thrilling and, interestingly, it predated my exposure to the French New Wave so, in a way, this was the American, a certain kind of new wave in American movies. Show less «

Your antagonist has to be every bit as formidable as your hero, or you diminish the character you're supposed to care about. For people starting out writing scripts, they're in that 'hiss-the-villain' mode, and you always want to say "Wait, wait, wait. They're human too. Give them some problems and you'll end up with a better story". Show less «

I don't think it's sacrilegious to remake any movie, including a good or even great movie. I think what's sacrilegious is to make a bad movie, whether it's a remake or an original. It's what I always tell my actor friends, anybody who's in this, this [business], you've gotta try to hold out and only do the scripts, do the material that offers you the opportunity to do your best work. Because if you do stuff that doesn't give you that opportunity? Your work's not gonna be good. And you're gonna suffer in the long run from that. So I don't care if it's a remake if it's a great script with parts in it that can attract fantastic actors, God, you know, to make the movie. Show less «

[on Michelle Pfeiffer] I would love to team up with Michelle again. She's underutilized.

[on Lu bian ye can (2015)] What if a brazen first-time filmmaker decided - beyond audaciously - that they didn't want to cut from one location to another (all quite distant from each other) for about oh, half their new movie, and instead chose to dare to go with one super-duper-transcendental half-hour plus single take? Answer: you wind up with Gan Bi's absolutely extraordinary "Kaili Blues". Fair warning here: you need to be a seriously open and accessible film buff / cineaste / movie lover to be right for this picture. The cinema muse-deities have inspired and blessed "Kaili Blues" with a magic and mystery that is utterly unique. This film is capable of generating giant cinema joyfulness in those who are ready to bring an open heart, mind and eye to this viewing experience. Director Bi Gan won 'Best Emerging Director' and 'Best First Feature' at the 2015 Locarno Film Festival. I had the thrill of seeing this film first at last year's Venice Film Festival, and two months later at the Lisbon and Estoril Film Festivals. The screenings I attended gave rise to audience-ecstasy in both situations. I loved it even more the second time. [2016] Show less «