Quotes

Be daring and sincere. -- referring to an interview he read with Stanley Kubrick when asked what his tenets are for first-time film directors

I guess it depends if you direct really crappy music videos or really great feature films. I would say generally there's a little bit of a pejorative when you mention the phrase music video because it brings to mind 'junk'.

However, when you look at the crop of music video directors like Spike Jonze, David Fincher and Chris Cunningham, these guys are clearly great filmmakers in whatever medium they work in. -- on snobbery directed towards music video and/or commercial directors transitioning into directing films

... I do believe that there are auteurs, in the sense that there are filmmakers with very strong voices and their voices are communicated on to the screen without a lot of compromise. When you look at a Kubrick or a Scorsese or a Jean Luc Goddard film, it is obvious that they are the auteur of that language and tone.

However, I think those guys would have to admit that it is a massively collaborative process. In some instances, I would say the writer does deserve equal billing with the director. In other instances the director -- especially if he wrote part of the script himself -- is clearly more the author of the movie. -- on if screenwriters should receive equal credit to directors