Lee Daniels Quotes
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When you have a lot of siblings, you always do something to feel special.
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I've met Shonda Rhimes a few times, and certainly she's an inspiration for me in television.
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I went back-to-back from 'Paperboy' to 'Butler,' literally with no break.
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I definitely caught the acting bug, but that lasted for about two seconds when I found my way to L.A. and found that my talents were better suited behind the cameras.
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I was the oldest of five children, each about a year apart, and my mother, bless her heart, had her hands full.
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I don't know - I haven't seen any of my movies after I finish them. I leave the editing room; I don't go back.
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I want to live in my truth. Tell me you don't like me, and I know it. But when you don't tell me, and you work behind my back, it's a lie, and I don't know how to fight that.
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I hate white people writing for black people; it's so offensive. So we go out and look specifically for African-American voices.
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There are servers, and there are people that are served. There's something contradictory about that in a democracy, certainly.
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Most actors want the audience to like them, and that leads to bad acting.
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At 19, I was in the streets making money. I was surviving.
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My mom knew early on that I was gay, and she knew that I had to get out of the ghetto.
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I want to learn. I want to stretch my muscles as a director and work under different circumstances.
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'Precious' is so not P.C. What I learned from doing the film is that even though I am black, I'm prejudiced. I'm prejudiced against people who are darker than me.
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I'm not going to be labeled a black filmmaker. I am not here to just tell black stories. I'm here to tell all kinds of stories, musicals and dramas.
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I come from a family of domestics. I think most African-Americans of my age do. They were trusted by their bosses. I have met so many white people that spent more time with their nannies than they have with their own parents.
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Here's the thing: I think the media underestimates the intelligence of the moviegoer. We need to be fulfilled. People want to sit down and think, and I try to make people think.
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I'm not Tyler Perry. I'm not Dino De Laurentis. I think it's a bit much to put one's name in front of the film. It makes me uncomfortable.
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I see the world from a very specific perspective. It is how I grew up. It is what I am proud of, and I vocalize it. And for those who have not experienced my experience, it is odd, and it's not mainstream.
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My work is therapeutic: 'Monster's Ball,' 'Woodsman' and 'Shadowboxer,' because I don't go to therapy, and I sort of live life through my films.
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I don't know whether everybody likes the films that I do. I know that I love them, and I believe the way that I raise my kids that they will love them, and that's what most important to me.
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I like to show the grey area in all my characters.
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If you really spend time with movies, it's three years of your life from beginning to end. I started out planting the seed with 'Monster's Ball' about independent cinema and raising money and that whole thing as a producer, and then it becomes easier for me.
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I think that, as African-Americans, oftentimes we have to put ourselves on pedestals as opposed to really looking at ourselves and trying to understand ourselves and become better people. We always have to be on pedestals.