Kevin Macdonald Quotes
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'Uprising' was one of the first three or four albums I ever bought in 1980 when I was 13, and that had a strong impact on me.
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'State of Play' is a romantic story at its heart.
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In some ways, making documentaries is like being a journalist. You interview people and then use the bits you want to use as opposed to the bits they want you to use.
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When we made 'Life in a Day,' we asked people around the globe to record their lives on a single ordinary day. When we were cutting that film, we talked about what it might be like if we chose a day that already had significance to people. The result is 'Christmas in a Day.'
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I was fascinated by making a submarine movie, inspired by the Kursk disaster. This idea of being trapped down at the bottom of the sea seemed so terrifying. I was very interested in making a sub film which wasn't a military film. You think, Well, why are they there, then, if they're not in the military? Oh, well, they must be looking for treasure.
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Most people in Uganda have something good to say about Amin - 'He was funny; he gave us pride to be African.'
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I suppose that the Western has always been a kind of mold to which you could pour the concerns of the day, but have them seen in the simple terms of the Western, of one alley or whatever.
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I love submarine movies.
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If you go to pretty much everywhere in the developing world, you will find Bob Marley murals, and you'll find people playing his music.
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A publisher friend of mine suggested that I write a book about my grandfather, who had just died. I had nothing else to fill my empty days with, so I started work on this book. While researching it - watching lots of movies, talking to moviemakers - I became interested in movies and started making documentaries.
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It's always nice to have the same people that you are familiar with and shorthand with, obviously, to be around you.
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Everyone's got to make one submarine drama in their life.
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I think everything that I've done, I've been involved with for longer. Either you develop it from scratch, or you take something, and you develop it, and you work on the script, but I'm not sure how good I'd be at just sort of taking a piece of material and being a director for hire like that.
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If there's a principle really worth sticking up for, I'll go the whole way.
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I find it really difficult when you make a movie where it is set in Russia and everyone speaks in English. It drives me crazy.
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I've done a few celebrity-related things, and I think on the first one - about Mick Jagger - I got stung and was not able to make the film I wanted to make.
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I was a teenager in the '80s, and I was always a bit dismissive of Houston, as I think a lot of people who considered themselves 'cool music fans' were. She was poppy, bubble gum, making music not considered very cool. But you can't help but dance to some of those songs or feel emotionally affected by 'I Will Always Love You.'
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I don't read many young adult books.
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I remember going to the university film club to see 'The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp' one night and being bowled over. It was one of the most beautiful films I'd ever seen. And it felt so personal.
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I went to see 'Francis Ha,' which I could certainly relate to. She ends up wandering the streets of Paris all alone - something I've ended up doing a number of times in capital cities around Europe.
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People who die in an untimely way who are artists, somehow that validates their art, we feel. Why culturally we feel that, I don't know.
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If you can understand, you can feel compassion.
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My grandfather died before I started making films, but I definitely learnt this from him: believe in your own judgment and stick to your guns - 99% of the time, you'll be glad you did.
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Every film that is made about the past is always a reflection of the present.