Morgan Neville Quotes

United States, Film Producer
October 10, 1967

Morgan Neville is an American film producer, director and writer. His acclaimed film 20 Feet from Stardom won him the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2014 as well as a Grammy Award for Best Music Film. His documentary Best of Enemies, on the debates between Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley, was shortlisted for the 2016 Academy Award and won an Emmy Award. His recent film, Won't You Be My Neighbor?, a documentary about Fred Rogers, in June 2018, received critical acclaim and became the highest grossing biographical-documentary of all time.

Also known as Director, Writer

I feel like there's a randomness in real life that too many Hollywood movies just shave off. It feels too intentional, and life just isn't that intentional. I like popcorn movies. I like entertaining movies. But, I feel like I could do something more in the real world.

Morgan Neville
- Life
- World
- Real
Buckley and Vidal were both stand-ins for what was happening on the streets of Chicago and the streets of America. I mean, they're representing these two different camps that are at war in the streets. And they're at war with their words. And each was looking for a knockout.

Morgan Neville
- Different
- America
- War

You always want to make the best film you can. If anything I feel more relaxed after the Oscar. I feel like I have a chance to just tell the stories I want to tell and it's actually been really nice.

Morgan Neville
- Nice
- Film
- Chance
The show with Buckley and Vidal was happening live. There was no editing. There was no delay. So they were aghast. How America reacted is sort of the most interesting thing because as these debates progressed, the ratings were going up. So people began to program these sort of point-counterpoint setups, where two people with opposite sides would come on.

Morgan Neville
When you're writing a story or an actor playing a role, you should never think of your characters as heroes or villains. You have to think of them as people first.

Morgan Neville
- People
- Thinking
- Writing
One of the challenges was to make a cinematic movie about literally talking heads and to try to make it feel like something you want to see in a theater.

Morgan Neville
- Feels
- Challenges
- Talking