Andrea Arnold Quotations

I grew up in a working-class family, so I guess you could say I write from what I know.

I always think that if you look at anyone in detail, you will have empathy for them because you recognize them as a human being, no matter what they've done.

I'm sure most of us remember being a kid and you have all of this endless time where two weeks before Christmas feels like ten years. I used to go to bed to try and go to sleep to try and make it go faster.

Whenever I get fed up with life I love to go wandering in nature.

I don't think you can question your instinct; you should always trust it.

I work best when there is adversity: I seem to get calmer the more the fur is flying.

People ask, 'Are your things autobiographical?,' and I think, no, they're not autobiographical directly, but of course my life has informed my work.

As long as you keep your budgets small, there's a way of making films.

I was a freestyle dancer; I wasn't trained.

I always get quite close to my script because I work quite hard on them.

I am obsessed with why people turn out the way they are.

I can't remember why or how I started writing, but I think it was always a way of making sense of the world.

I deliberately never read about films before I see them.

I want to try and be instinctive as a writer and director.

Obviously when you cast someone who hasn't acted before it can be a massive opportunity for them.

Sometimes when you're going fast, your instincts can be very useful.

Usually, I make such small-budget films that I can't afford to buy weather.

Every time I start a film I feel like I'm starting the first time, ever.

For me, making films is about trying to work something out by myself in quite a lonely way. I find the whole thing very lonely really.

I do believe some people can naturally act and don't know it.

I'm fascinated with what an audience will take away from an image.

I've not used a score in any of my films so far.

Interestingly, I never thought I'd do an adaptation. I've also been quite against them. I think trying to translate one medium to another is wrong. I never really felt that books fitted into film. Generally people are disappointed, aren't they?

My films don't give you an easy ride. I can see that. The sense I get is that people have quite a physical experience with them. They feel afterwards that they've really been through something.

A lot of people have something to say about 'Wuthering Heights,' but nobody quite nails it.

Dramatically, I like darkness, I like conflict - but I don't see the world as defined by them.

Films are all about decisions, and that's what I love.

I don't feel very revengeful in life at all.

I don't want to think too much about me.

I find it kind of weird that directors want to put themselves in their films.

I hear filmmakers saying, 'I wanted to make to make a film about this issue, or this theme,' but I never start like that.

I just like doing things from my own head.

I never write with an actor in mind - never.

I was 18 when I got my first TV job.

I was never that comfortable in front of the camera, it always terrified me,

I wonder whether my bleak-o-meter is set differently from other people's.

Once Ive finished a film I just want to get on and make another one.

I definitely feel sorry more people don't get to see my films. They aren't inaccessible, and if people got the chance to see them, I know they'd like them.

With a lot of films, people are sitting on the outside looking in, but I want the audience to get a bit more intimately involved with what's going on, so that they maybe can experience it a little bit more intensely.

I'm never going back to the past. It is like when I am driving - I never like to do those routes that take you backwards and make you go the long way. I always like to do the shortcuts and go forward.

I personally love to see films not knowing very much about them. When you see it, it's like a flower opening up. I deliberately never read about films before I see them.

Sleep your way to the top.

When I was in New York I heard many people saying that the independent film industry was in big trouble. I was reflecting on this when I came home. Realizing that ever since I started filmmaking, people have being saying that. But somehow it keeps going. Filmmakers keep going. We need stories to make sense of the world and some people like me are driven to tell them. I have faith this will always be possible.

Interestingly, I never thought Id do an adaptation. Ive also been quite against them. I think trying to translate one medium to another is wrong. I never really felt that books fitted into film. Generally people are disappointed, arent they?

I think the reality is important anyway.

I love insects. They are amazing.

I read loads. There's quite a lot of stuff online.

I've always loved America.

I don't think estates are grim places.

I don't read reviews.

America is a huge country, of course. It's complicated. There's good, and there's not so good, and that's the same wherever you live.

I grew up with a lot of Hollywood films. Cozy farm houses, cowboys, nice flats in New York. Especially as a kid, those things have a huge impression on you.

When your characters are really living they tell you what they do.

I wonder whether my bleak-o-meter is set differently from other people's. I have such passion for what I do that I can't see it as bleak. When people use that word, or “grim” or “gritty,” I just think, “Oh, come on, look a bit deeper.” My films don't give you an easy ride. I can see that. The sense I get is that people have quite a physical experience with them. They feel afterwards that they've really been through something.