- Born
- Birth nameCarroll James Ballard
- Carroll Ballard was born on October 14, 1937 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is a director and cinematographer, known for Fly Away Home (1996), Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) and The Black Stallion (1979).
- Films often focus on animal and human interactions.
- Was UCLA classmate of Francis Ford Coppola, who as exec. producer of The Black Stallion (1979), chose Ballard to direct it.
- He has directed one film that has been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: The Black Stallion (1979).
- Directed one Oscar nominated performance Mickey Rooney in The Black Stallion (1979).
- It used to be that if you made a good film that really worked on a lot of levels, that was the most important thing. Now you've got to sell people with a sound bite. There's no time for people to discover movies anymore.
- If you don't have a million of what I call 'whammo' scenes, which means you can't go five seconds between somebody getting whammoed, studios don't think kids will like it. Personally, I think children are a lot more observant and adaptable.
- That's exactly correct. Really great movies don't happen except by someone having a great passion for that movie, somehow, despite the fact they don't have the instant audience connection.
- Yeah, for me, Kurosawa is still king.
- Character and a world of its own, those are the things that are most important in any picture, that it takes you into a world of its own that is palpable in some way, that you can practically smell. The same thing with characters, they're not a stock, off-the-shelf item, they're unpredictable and ephemeral and interesting and unique.
- The Black Stallion (1979) - $33,000 + 7% of gross
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
