I financed and made my own films from the start. My path has been autonomous and independent, so I don't have any horror stories about glass ceilings and expectations and tense studio meetings.
Ava DuVernay
Related I like to open for a band as it brings on sort of a challenge and it makes things more interesting. ... KELLY JONES I've been blessed in my career to be able to do studio and independent films. JACKSON RATHBONE Ava DuVernay is my personal Phil Jackson. She's a perfect coach. OMAR DORSEY The studios aren't lining up to make films about black protagonists, black people being autonomo... AVA DUVERNAY I don't like horror films. Horror films in the sense of the way horror films are now, like '... ATTICUS SHAFFER I have kept a diary, WITHNAIL AND I The horror films that I've made have been satirical in one way or another or political, and I re... GEORGE A. ROMERO Honestly speaking, I don't like my films. When I watch them, I see a lot of scope for improvemen... ABHISHEK BACHCHAN I must have been 3 years old or less, and I remember paging through these comics, trying to figure o... DANIEL CLOWES Horror films have always been quite operatic for me. I always sort of scratch my head at people'... BRYAN FULLER I don't watch any horror films. I get scared very easily. ED OXENBOULD I don't have any expectations as an actor, and being rich and famous is not my driving force. JAMES D'ARCY I guess in the independent market, I'd be getting offers, but in terms of big studio films, I st... MICHAEL FASSBENDER I don't know what to expect out of my films. My first two films were with extremely talented dir... SONAM KAPOOR I don't watch my own past films: when I watch them, I find they don't work very well, becaus... BRUNO DUMONT You earn very little money on independent films and I'm the provider for my home, so I do have t... VERA FARMIGA Growing up, I was discouraged from telling personal stories. My dad often used the phrase 'Don... MIKE BIRBIGLIA Most films made about the future acquiesce toward death, and I don't want to be told how to defi... VAL KILMER I don't recall having any self-awareness about the intricacy of my stories. A. E. VAN VOGT I don't regret doing any of my films. All of them have been great learning experiences, and they... RANDEEP HOODA I don't know how I didn't kill any one of my sisters. For this one horror film we were makin... ALEXA VEGA I've always been fascinated by horror films and genre films. And horror films harbored a fascina... EDGAR WRIGHT I have no hang-ups in life. I don't care about groups and camps. I have been brought up with cer... ABHISHEK BACHCHAN I was brought up by my mum and my sister. I've always been around independent women; I like that... AARON TAYLOR-JOHNSON I don't come from money or an educated family background or any sort of supportive family life, ... CAT POWER Amongst my friends, I am known as the most cynical person they know - I'm incredibly cynical. I ... NIGEL COLE That's why I'm really trying to produce my own stuff. This film was so good, because I produ... TED DEMME I've spent my life doing action films and most of my own stunts, so my teeth have been knocked o... JAMES COSMO I'm trying my best with what I want to do, which is modelling. I think I'm on my own career ... KENDALL JENNER I only know from my own personal experience, and I personally feel that there's a cyclical natur... JEFFREY JONES In my life, there have always been people who guided my path, towards the school, towards this compa... KAREN KAIN I don't know about you, but my girlfriends have been my girlfriends forever, and they're my ... ELIZABETH OLSEN My films are personal-voice-driven films about human characters and the place we live. Technically, ... BARRY JENKINS I don't have any expectations. DELTA GOODREM You know, independent films have been institutionalized, practically. Every studio has got a boutiqu... EDWARD NORTON I don't want to just do independent movies and I don't want to just do adventure films. I en... NICOLAS CAGE I am a nuclear physicist by training and a deeply committed Christian. I don't have any doubt in... JIMMY CARTER There are two different stories in horror: internal and external. In external horror films, the evil... JOHN CARPENTER I must have been 3 years old or less, and I remember paging through these comics, trying to figure o... DANIEL CLOWES I don't talk about my politics. I am registered as an independent. CHARLIE ROSE I have a bee in my bonnet as to how few black historical figures one sees on film; incredible storie... DAVID OYELOWO I looked through the glass from my adjacent studio and John [Peel] was just weeping. Silently. NICKY CAMPBELL I don't know what any of my songs are about. I don't sit down to write about anything. They&... LIAM GALLAGHER I just play intuitively and work the same way in the studio. I don't have any magical effects or... DAVID GILMOUR I love watching horror films because I don't get scared easily. ESHA GUPTA I don't feel comfortable talking about my private life, and some people in my private life don... GINA MCKEE My life path has been a blessing and a great learning experience. Skateboarding is my passion and I ... RYAN SHECKLER Most of the time my own family feels like I don't need anything, I'm tough as nails and I do... NENE LEAKES As far as film goes, I enjoy all Hollywood films and all Horror films like The Bride of Frankenstein... JOHNNY RAMONE I don't have to do anything for anyone else's benefit anymore. I just want to exceed my own ... DANE COOK I didn't comment on any actress, and I have never compared myself with any senior actresses. Mor... RAKUL PREET SINGH My stories have a deep spiritual core because I have a deep desire to understand things of the spiri... SUE MONK KIDD I had developed this habit of writing scenarios as a hobby. I would find out which stories had been ... SATYAJIT RAY You've got these big studio films and these tiny independent films now. It's very much eithe... IMOGEN POOTS I'm never interested in movies where you don't care about the people you're watching, an... JOSS WHEDON My life has been wild enough to derive all of the stories you need out of it. I've been through ... RON WHITE I find a lot of things kind of funny and I often say what's on my mind, and then get nine texts ... KATE BECKINSALE I'm a teenager, but I'm independent - I have my own apartment, I have my own life. And I thi... ADRIANA LIMA My stories are not Christianized at all. I don't even have any Christians in my stories. What th... TED DEKKER There's not one film that I've ever made that could get made today by a studio, not one - ev... ROB REINER I don't bring expectations to any of my books. I don't tell people what to do. I want to inv... BARBARA KINGSOLVER I don't plan my roles or my films. MANJU WARRIER I don't think I have ever taken any 'offbeat' advice. Actually, I don't know I take ... DIANE HENDRICKS I was born and raised Catholic, so it's in my blood. I don't go to church... I was born and ... TOM ARAYA The Brady Bunch: The Complete Fourth Season AND CITY Everybody wonders what happens after you die[Carrie] I'm too busy wondering who's dinging my car in... AND CITY Desperate Housewives. AND CITY I will never be the woman with the perfect hair, who can wear white and not spill on it. AND CITY A stud is born! [Stanford] AND CITY Courtney (Showing Carrie her book cover): Let me talk you through it. Blurred background, aah, fast-... AND CITY It's such a tribute to my show. My show is so good. I feel so blessed to play such a strong characte... AND CITY You men have no idea what we're dealing with down there. Teeth placement, and jaw stress, and suctio... AND CITY I don't believe in the Republican party or the Democratic party. I just believe in parties. [Samanth... AND CITY Sometimes we need to stop analyzing the past, stop planning the future, stop figuring out precisely ... AND CITY Honey, I've decided we're going to Louisiana. JILL AND We'll have to find new accommodation tonight, JILL AND None of these places, of course, are charging any rent, JILL AND I've been hit in the head a lot, but I don't think I have any problems, but I can't, for... T. J. PERKINS My relationship to reality has been so utterly skewed for so long that I don't even notice it an... ETHAN HAWKE You really think that on my films people tell me what to do? I don't think so. On my films I dec... BAZ LUHRMANN John Barth, I think, was really a writer of my own age and somewhat of my own temperament, although ... JOHN UPDIKE 'The Dice Man' is an anti-establishment cult novel, and you don't normally make studio f... LUKE RHINEHART In studio films, everything has to be boxed in, everybody needs to know beforehand - this is comedy,... FAMKE JANSSEN I don't want a lot of people nosing round my studio and bothering me. I don't want to see th... WINSLOW HOMER There have been 14 versions that I can find of Burke & Hare movies. They have all been horror fi... JOHN LANDIS I've made these films, and I'm really proud, but my lifestyle hasn't changed. TARON EGERTON I don't have a weapon in my hand, and I don't have a uniform on my body, but my uniform now ... J. R. MARTINEZ I don't follow other players or the tournaments they play. I have my own schedule and do my own ... MARIA SHARAPOVA I don't want to get married - I've been there and done that. So I know what I'm talking ... LONI LOVE Right from my childhood, I have believed in a Supreme Power. I don't know whether it has form, o... PAWAN KALYAN I don't hate language. I have my own language, but I also enjoy the English language. Obviously,... TWYLA THARP It is totally different making films in the East than in the West. In the East, I make my own Jackie... JACKIE CHAN I don't think any studio - it was a long shot at the time - but I don't think any studio in ... CALLIE KHOURI When I give speeches at college, I don't tell stories, I talk about what it is to live your drea... TUCKER MAX The Sand Pebbles has always been one of my favorite films, I suppose because its the most difficult ... ROBERT WISE I have a very long and beautiful love affair with Elvis Presley. I own every record he ever made, so... ALEXANDRA SHIPP I've always been independent. I've always had courage. But I didn't always own my diabet... MARY TYLER MOORE I spent a lot of my childhood in my own head, making up stories. I didn't have a lot of outside ... DIDO ARMSTRONG If you go all the way back, I've always written science-fiction, I've always written fantasy... GEORGE R. R. MARTIN I don't know anything more piggish - I don't know anything more un-American than saying, ... TODD ROKITA
More Ava DuVernay
I want to be an old lady, with my cane, shouting, 'Action!' and 'Cut!' AVA DUVERNAY Filmmakers need to realize that their job isn't done when they lock picture. We must see our fil... AVA DUVERNAY We know there needs to be diversity in storytellers telling their own stories. I think there's a... AVA DUVERNAY The way that we're consuming what we watch. Netflix, binge-watching, destination agnostic were n... AVA DUVERNAY I am honored to be one of this year's Urbanworld ambassadors for the festival's 20th anniver... AVA DUVERNAY When we're talking about diversity, it's not a box to check. It is a reality that should be ... AVA DUVERNAY You could make the most beautiful film, and that weekend it's raining too hard on the East Coast... AVA DUVERNAY In documentaries, there's a truth that unfolds unnaturally, and you get to chronicle it. In narr... AVA DUVERNAY There's really no precedent for someone like me gaining clout in the space that I'm in - a b... AVA DUVERNAY I usually make films with $2 and a paper clip. AVA DUVERNAY I don't even really see sit-ins and marches as passive. I see them as quite assertive. I see tho... AVA DUVERNAY I think any black woman is a queen. It's just, do you know it? Do you see it in yourself? Do you... AVA DUVERNAY You gotta follow the white guys. Truly. They've got this thing wired. Too often, we live within ... AVA DUVERNAY For female directors, there's a whole other set of things we have to think about, particularly w... AVA DUVERNAY The consumer is deciding what they want to see and when and how, and filmmakers are more aware and a... AVA DUVERNAY When we say there's a dearth of women directors, it's not that there's a lack of women w... AVA DUVERNAY I'm a big people watcher and a people talker. The beautiful thing about being an artist and a cr... AVA DUVERNAY Creativity is an energy. It's a precious energy, and it's something to be protected. A lot o... AVA DUVERNAY There can be a progression to the dream; there can be steps to it. When you dissect any successful p... AVA DUVERNAY With the Black Lives Matter movement, a lot of the focus is on the protest and dissent. I'm hopi... AVA DUVERNAY Oh, Diane Nash deserves her own film. Diane Nash is a freedom fighter who is still alive and kicking... AVA DUVERNAY To win Best Director at Sundance was beyond anything I could have imagined for myself. It's stil... AVA DUVERNAY Today, when you look at social media, you see that the narrative can be overtaken by people just fro... AVA DUVERNAY Art morphs with what's going on in the world. We say 'Ferguson'; we don't say 'M... AVA DUVERNAY I love community, I love to be around other people. I love to be around other people when everyone... AVA DUVERNAY Film is a mirror. I want to see more filmmakers. We all want to see ourselves. AVA DUVERNAY Every filmmaker imbues a movie with their own point of view. AVA DUVERNAY There's a big difference between the independent film world and the Hollywood film world, and I ... AVA DUVERNAY Film school was a privilege I could not afford. AVA DUVERNAY I didn't go to film school. I got my education on the set as a niche publicist in the film indus... AVA DUVERNAY There was a time when I was knocking on doors and concerned with being recognized in dominant cultur... AVA DUVERNAY We're told that independent film lovers... folks that are used to watching art house films, won&... AVA DUVERNAY 'Queen Sugar' is a drama about family. It's something that allows us to be ourselves and... AVA DUVERNAY Oprah Winfrey is a big role model for me from a business capacity and a creative capacity. She is an... AVA DUVERNAY Why do we always have to see black people in hindsight? Why are the Hollywood movies always historic... AVA DUVERNAY Be passionate and move forward with gusto every single hour of every single day until you reach your... AVA DUVERNAY There's been no major motion picture released by a studio, no independent motion picture, in the... AVA DUVERNAY A black woman making art is a disruptive act. Every story that I tell as a woman is a political act,... AVA DUVERNAY As long as you're in an environment where the worth of the project isn't based on the projec... AVA DUVERNAY All the traditional models for doing things are collapsing; from music to publishing to film, and it... AVA DUVERNAY I spent a whole 12 years helping other people tell their stories as a publicist, so just to be able ... AVA DUVERNAY I've been to Sundance eight times as a publicist and thought I was very prepared. I mean, who co... AVA DUVERNAY The best art is realized when you can share the experience of making of it and not just the presenta... AVA DUVERNAY The studios aren't lining up to make films about black protagonists, black people being autonomo... AVA DUVERNAY I think that if we really want to break it down, that non-black filmmakers have had many, many years... AVA DUVERNAY My interest as an artist is to illuminate the lives of black folks. I definitely am focused on films... AVA DUVERNAY Oh gosh, I'm completely allergic to historical dramas. Particularly those around the civil-right... AVA DUVERNAY Women have been trained in our culture and society to ask for what we want instead of taking what we... AVA DUVERNAY My next project is 'Venus Vs,' which is a documentary that follows tennis star Venus William... AVA DUVERNAY Artists should be free to create what we want. I believe there's a special value in work that is... AVA DUVERNAY Nonviolence is pretty ballsy, pretty advanced weaponry. AVA DUVERNAY I wish I could be the black woman Soderbergh, and put the camera on my shoulder and shoot beautifull... AVA DUVERNAY I like silence. Aesthetically, I feel strangled by the fast cutting and a wall of sound. And I think... AVA DUVERNAY I really admire Werner Herzog and Spike Lee. They're amazing documentarians. If you took away al... AVA DUVERNAY All black women aren't sassy, loud, difficult, or subservient. We are, in fact, very complex and... AVA DUVERNAY I want more girls to be able to see themselves behind the camera creating images we all enjoy, and I... AVA DUVERNAY If your dream is only about you, it's too small. AVA DUVERNAY There's something very important about films about black women and girls being made by black wom... AVA DUVERNAY It's not enough even to have one black Barbie... because black women are not a monolith. AVA DUVERNAY I made my first film when I was 35, so I firmly believe that you don't have to be one thing in l... AVA DUVERNAY I make films about black women and it doesn't mean that you can't see them as a black man, d... AVA DUVERNAY If you're doing something outside of dominant culture, there's not an easy place for you. Yo... AVA DUVERNAY oh, the heartbreakingly beautiful tender weight of being human. AVA. remember you are capable of the most powerful thing in the universe. you are capable of l... AVA. i swallowed the syllables of your name and i was full. AVA. i just want to be honest about my feelings without destroying everything. AVA. i am changing and i am loving change. AVA i am awake and alive and swollen and heavy with love. AVA i am changing and i am loving change. AVA. no one needs love from you more than you need love from you. love yourself first, AVA. i am soft again. there is water and it surrounds me. there is feeling and i can feel it. AVA. love yourself first, and you will always be in love. AVA. every choice i have ever made after you existed has been dependent on exactly how close i ... AVA. there's always been a little sadness inside my happiness. i've never been able to separat... AVA. and sadness clung to me because she did not know how to be alone. AVA. i'm so hooked on how your mind works, on what you notice, on everything that excites ... AVA you giver of light. you lover of love. you beautiful beautiful human being... AVA. do not let anyone in until they love you so fiercely, you have no defense against their lo... AVA. i am soft again. there is water and it surrounds me. there is feeling and i can feel it. AVA you have outgrown this skin. stop trying to hold it in. stop trying to hold it together. AVA. you wanted it all to make sense and you wanted the most complicated answer, but the answer... AVA. i am awake and alive and swollen and heavy with love. AVA. hold company with yourself so sacred that even when you are alone, you are whole. AVA. i'm so hooked on how your mind works, on what you notice, on everything that excites ... AVA. some people are so deep you fall into them and you never stop falling. AVA. you came in slowly like the fog and consumed me. AVA. i want so much to touch you where my hands cannot. AVA. we get brave. we move. we believe. we keep going. AVA. you giver of light. you lover of love. you beautiful beautiful human being... AVA everything i know about love is that it hurts and is almost always never returned the... AVA. we get brave. we move. we believe. we keep going. AVA i can't hold onto love. i'm not gentle enough. i always end up crushing the thi... AVA. the opening, the breaking, the falling apart is always so quick. the hurti... AVA. i open for you like a flower. i let you in like a new day. AVA everything i know about love is that it hurts and is almost always never returned the... AVA i took it off. i did not want to carry it with me anymore. AVA i took it off. i did not want to carry it with me anymore. AVA. i feel everything. i do not know how to un-feel and to not feel is to stop the sun. AVA Some people say Liz and I are whores, but we are saints. We do not hide our loves hypocritically, an... AVA GARDNER How could she just leave me here to live without her? I miss her so much. I love her. I want her to ... AVA DELLAIRA Deep down, I'm pretty superficial. AVA GARDNER You think you know someone, but that person always changes, and you keep changing, too. I understood... AVA DELLAIRA What I told you about saving people isn't true. You might think it is, because you might want someon... AVA DELLAIRA And maybe what growing up really means is knowing that you don't have to be just a character, going ... AVA DELLAIRA I think a lot of people want to be someone, but we are scared that if we try, we won't be as good as... AVA DELLAIRA God knows I've got so many frailties myself, I ought to be able to understand and forgive them in ot... AVA GARDNER Because once you're afraid of one thing, you can get scared of a lot of stuff. AVA DELLAIRA The truth is, honey, I've enjoyed my life. I've had a hell of a good time. AVA GARDNER We want to go home and see with our own eyes what the damage is before we decide if we're going to r... AVA SEVIN We heard they had an oil spill. Whether it got to our house, we don't know. AVA SEVIN We come here for meals and to see the people we've met from the different areas of New Orleans. We w... AVA SEVIN On Saturday, when the mayor told everyone to evacuate New Orleans, we got everything together and go... AVA SEVIN Because I was promoted as a sort of a siren and played all those sexy broads, people made the mistak... AVA GARDNER After my screen test, the director clapped his hands gleefully and yelled: "She can't talk! She can'... AVA GARDNER I suffered, I really suffered, with all three of my husbands. And I tried damn hard with all three, ... AVA GARDNER I don't understand people who like to work and talk about it like it was some sort of goddamn duty. ... AVA GARDNER I think the main reason my marriages failed is that I always loved too well but never wisely. AVA GARDNER What's the point? My face, shall we say, looks lived in. AVA GARDNER Some people say Liz and I are whores, but we are saints. We do not hide our loves hypocritically, an... AVA GARDNER I couldn't imagine a better place [Australia] for making a film on the end of the world. AVA GARDNER For the loot, honey, for the loot. AVA GARDNER I liked the darkness, the dusty bay window, the view over the grey, muddy harbour and the towering c... AVA BLOOMFIELD I took a deep, deep breath and held it in my core; kept it close behind my protruding, fleshless rib... AVA BLOOMFIELD Maybe, in the final analysis, they saw me as something I wasn't and I tried to turn them into someth... AVA GARDNER The numbers on the board don’t mean a thing, because for the first time in forever, I have somewhe... AVA DELLAIRA You know when you think you know someone? More than anyone in the world? You know you know them, bec... AVA DELLAIRA Deep down, I'm pretty superficial. AVA GARDNER I'm not going to make someone my priority, when I'm their option. AVA PORTER Sometimes your music sounds like there’s too much inside you. Maybe even you couldn’t get ... AVA DELLAIRA I have only one rule in acting - trust the director and give him heart and soul. AVA GARDNER When I lose my temper, honey, you can't find it any place. AVA GARDNER Hell, I suppose if you stick around long enough they have to say something nice about you. AVA GARDNER When he fell down the stairs, he told people he'd had a stroke. He was just pissed out of his skull.... AVA GARDNER But to me, they were beautiful, like their own constellation. AVA DELLAIRA But you said you love me. You don’t just leave after that. AVA DELLAIRA Emptiness felt like a living thing. A parasite growing in the center of your chest, somewhere behind... AVA JAE The most liberating moment, is the moment you finally let go. AVA HARRISON I think it's like when you lose something so close to you, it's like losing yourself. AVA DELLAIRA You are bravery to me. AVA DELLAIRA Sometimes your music sounds like there's too much inside of you. Maybe even you couldn't get it all ... AVA DELLAIRA I think that by beauty, you don't just mean something that's pretty. You mean something that makes u... AVA DELLAIRA You learned right away that applause sounds like love. AVA DELLAIRA May, I love you with everything I am. For so long, I just wanted to be like you. But I had to figure... AVA DELLAIRA We are each weird in a different way, but together, that's actually normal. AVA DELLAIRA Because I was promoted as a sort of a siren and played all those sexy broads, people made the mistak... AVA GARDNER I have only one rule in acting--trust the director, and give him heart and soul. AVA GARDNER The truth will set you free, they say, but believe me, nothing will set you free. AVA FARMEHRI When you have to face up to the fact that marriage to the man you love is really over, that's very t... AVA GARDNER If beauty is truth, and truth is beauty, they are defined by each other, so how do we know the meani... AVA DELLAIRA I feel like I am drowning in memories. Everything is too bright. AVA DELLAIRA I think it’s like when you lose something so close to you, it’s like losing yourself. That’s w... AVA DELLAIRA The thing about traditions is that they hold up the shape of your memory. AVA DELLAIRA We do things sometimes because we feel so much inside of us, and we don’t notice how it affects so... AVA DELLAIRA It's sad when everyone knows you, but no one knows you. AVA DELLAIRA So maybe when we can say things, when we can write the words, when we can express how it feels, we a... AVA DELLAIRA I know that it can be hard to believe that someone loves you if you are afraid of being yourself, or... AVA DELLAIRA A friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself - and especially to feel, or not to f... AVA DELLAIRA I mean, words can't be good enough for a lot of things. But, you know, I guess we have to try. AVA DELLAIRA she walked like she belonged in a better world, AVA DELLAIRA Nirvana means freedom. Freedom from suffering. I guess some people would say that death is just that... AVA DELLAIRA I wish you could tell me where you are now. I mean, I know you’re dead, but I think there must be ... AVA DELLAIRA Sometimes when we say things, we hear silence. Or only echoes. Like screaming from inside. And that�... AVA DELLAIRA Truth is beautiful, no matter what the truth is. Even if it's scary or bad. It is beauty simply beca... AVA DELLAIRA There are a lot of human experiences that challenge the limits of our language,” she said. “That... AVA DELLAIRA There's more to life than being a passenger. AVA DELLAIRA But we aren't transparent. If we want someone to know us, we have to tell them stuff. AVA DELLAIRA I know I wrote letters to people with no address on this earth, I know that you are dead. But I hear... AVA DELLAIRA When we are in love, we are both completely in danger and completely saved. AVA DELLAIRA You can be noble and brave and beautiful and still find yourself falling. AVA DELLAIRA What's the point? My face, shall we say, looks lived in. AVA GARDNER All of a sudden we were out of the lot and on the highway next to the mountains, flying. I put my ha... AVA DELLAIRA Dragons have wild hearts that need the open sky AVA RICHARDSON I loved the feeling of being alone together in the car, like we could go anywhere we wanted. Just us... AVA DELLAIRA The time is not always now for everything. AVA RICHARDSON Our phone bills were astronomical, and when I found the letters Frank wrote me the other day, the to... AVA GARDNER You usually find that this is the most romantic sex, because it starts out with long, luscious kisse... DR AVA CADELL When you know you're never going to see someone again, you want to leave her wanting you - and you'l... DR AVA CADELL There's a correlation between a woman's bottom lip and her vagina. Sucking gently on her lip will ma... DR AVA CADELL