Alex Winter Quotations

I'm not trying to be some kind of underground renegade.

Certain remakes are great. Carpenter's The Thing is better than the original.

I just like movies that somehow expose the world in a way that's different than you imagine it.

I direct a lot of TV commercials and music videos.

That's kind of the weird thing that M. Night Shyamalan has sort of unleashed upon the world is this need for every movie to have these ridiculous endings.

The thing about movies these days is that the commerce end of it is so inflated and financiers are just expecting this enormous return on their investment.

I think filmmakers want their movies to be seen.

It's hard for a hit to be bad for your career.

I get very driven by certain themes and ideas.

I'm not saying it isn't frustrating that my films haven't gotten a bigger release, but I'm really happy with them and if you just keep cranking and eventually, if you have a certain sensibility, some of your movies will hit and some just won't.

After living in LA for 8 years, I sort of wanted a change, but there's not much production in New York, which is where I primarily live, so I just sort of drifted over to London.

Like I said about Freaked, people tend to find these films, and I think that in the end the cool thing about a movie is that it can be sort of burnt temporarily, but then it's burnt into the fabric of your culture.

I take a lot from everywhere. I take from music, architecture, novels, and plays. Anywhere that hits you.

I think movies are good for getting into dream states or exploring weird alternate states of thinking.

I really love sort of classical cinema where people were telling stories with very little dialogue, and people were using the camera in a really interesting way.

But it is funny, because I saw Unbreakable recently and it's a strange movie, I didn't mind it, and it's got some interesting things going on.

Coppola has problems getting financing, so why should I not have problems getting financing.

Hitchcock had to fight to the death to make his movies.

I'm one of the few people who really like Eyes Wide Shut.

I'm really influenced by so many different things.

My favorite favorites are people like Bunuel, Fellini and Charlie Chaplin.

Same thing, like my commercials are often times really funny because I tend to find 30 seconds is a really good amount of time to tell a joke.

They're innocent movies, and they're fun movies and there were no pretensions about 'em.

The film, even when we were making it in that budget range, which was really a coup - we got it made because we pitched it to the studio head, Joe Roth.

The thing is there have been American movies that are similar to Solaris, like Alien had a lot of things that are similar, although it's also got the horror element.

We're in a time right now where there are so many pretty boy movies and TV shows out, that most of the actors that are in their late 20's are coming from those beefcake TV roles and they just don't have the chops.

Knowing that it is highly competitive, and I'm not the first person to say this, but good stories do tend to get made.

Keanu thought he was Bill and I thought I was Ted. Then the assistant came out, and it was the opposite. Keanu just went gray, I said, "What's wrong?" 'And he said "I really wanted to be Bill

Keanu and I jokingly, cause he's still a really close friend of mine, say maybe when we're both 40 we'll do one.

I think it's the greatest art form in the world, so I'm always encouraging to people.

Looking for legitimacy as an actor, I wasn't,

I think my first and foremost advice is to have a very realistic understanding of what making movies is; how much work it is, how unglamorous it is, how much tenacity you have to have.

We do live in a time, you know, it's the Land of McDonald's - mediocrity rules.

The trick of making movies in this culture is how to not give up everything that makes them worthwhile in order to get them made - and that's a tricky balance.

I actually did use to sell shoes.

One man's accuracy is another man's bullshit.

I don't think BitCoin has ever been anything but a legitimate enterprise. Currency is currency, it's used for good and ill.

You know, that's the reality, but I always shoot movies for the screen, because that's just the experience that I want to get out of it.

I have been interested in global web-based communities and emerging technologies since the mid 80's. There is a revolution occurring in global culture nowadays, that will change everything. and it's only just beginning.

What an old actor will do for money.

With Fever, the film was so made for the screen, and there's so much surround sound that was done for the film - enormous detail paid to that. I wasn't thinking video, because I didn't know how it was going to turn out.

The talent, the technical facilities, and the intelligence of the people - I just love London.

Considering we always wanted to make something that was very anti-establishment, the fact is, the film's been seen by a lot of people.

That's the funny thing about Fever, which has been a kind of thorn in our side, although I don't think The Sixth Sense had even come out yet when we shot the movie. My film is so not a whodunit, and it so doesn't have a big surprise ending.

Again, I don't have a high and mighty attitude about what I do, these just happen to be the kind of movies I want to make.

I mean, there are certain Spielberg movies I really like, but clearly they're very different directors and I much prefer Kubrick to Spielberg.

I like Kubrick a lot, Coppola, Lynch - I guess my favorite modern director is David Lynch.

I'm kind of happy to say I make weird movies - that part of it I'm really proud of.

You know, that's the reality, but I always shoot movies for the screen, 'cause that's just the experience that I want to get out of it.

And it really doesn't matter if you want to make mainstream movies - I think; make the movies you want to make.