Rian Johnson Quotes

Quotes about:

• Much of directing [a movie] is not directing but just listening and being present in the moment and just keeping your eyes open.

  Rian Johnson

  Eye, Listening, Moments

  Source: deadline.com

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• If you make something interesting, inevitably not everybody is going to like it.

  Rian Johnson

  Interesting, Something Interesting, Ifs

  Interview with Scott Tobias, www.avclub.com. April 19, 2006.

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• Writing sucks. I think it's terrible. Writing is not fun, and don't trust anyone who claims to enjoy it. Liars!

  Rian Johnson

  Fun, Liars, Writing

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

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• Writing in a lot of ways feels more like excavation than construction. It feels like you're uncovering this thing bit by bit, discovering what it is, instead of constructing it upwards.

  Rian Johnson

  Writing, Way, Like You

  "Rian Johnson’s Feedback Loop". Interview with Drew Fortune, www.interviewmagazine.com. September 27, 2012.

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• You come out of each movie just thinking, "God, if we can fool them into letting us make just one more, we can get it right."

  Rian Johnson

  Thinking, Fool, Just One

  "Rian Johnson’s Feedback Loop". Interview with Drew Fortune, www.interviewmagazine.com. September 27, 2012.

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• Showing your movie to an audience... it's like your kid doing a piano recital. 'Just let it not fail. Please.

  Rian Johnson

  Kids, Piano, Failing

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• I'm a sci-fi fan, and I guess you have to let go of some of that at some point, and realize that as long as you're focused on telling a story that you care about, at the end of the day, that's what really matters, even to hard-core sci-fi fans.

  Rian Johnson

  Letting Go, Long, The End Of The Day

  "Rian Johnson’s Feedback Loop". Interview with Drew Fortune, www.interviewmagazine.com. September 27, 2012.

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• If I spend a year and a half writing a script, the first year will be outlining in notebooks. It's just the way I work, definitely not necessarily the best way.

  Rian Johnson

  Notebook, Writing, Years

  Source: collider.com

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• All my favorite movies are somebody else's least favorite movie.

  Rian Johnson

  My Favorite

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• I do think that I'm a big believer in having an idea or having ideas and just tucking them away in the back of your brain. Even if you aren't consciously thinking of them, I think they simmer. You're working on them, even if you don't know you're working on them, and I think having something in your head for a while is a valuable thing.

  Rian Johnson

  Thinking, Ideas, Brain

  "Rian Johnson on his writing process and the appeal of alternate-history films". Interview with Tasha Robinson, www.avclub.com. September 27, 2012.

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• Storytelling wise, you've gotta take it as far as you can possibly take it with each individual movie. If you're holding out something for a sequel or some cliff-hanger, that's not how I think of a satisfying story.

  Rian Johnson

  Wise, Thinking, Stories

  Source: collider.com

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• When you're writing is when the "god should I just drop this" feeling can hit. When you're editing is when the "god this is awful and I've wasted everyone's time and money and will be revealed as a fraud" feeling can hit.

  Rian Johnson

  Writing, Editing, Feelings

  Source: collider.com

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• You never want to make a "message movie," but you always want to be talking about something that you care about.

  Rian Johnson

  Talking, Care, Want

  "Rian Johnson talks 'Looper', Bruce Willis' voiceover, and 'Breaking Bad'". Interview with Scott Neumyer, www.ifc.com. January 9, 2013.

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• In almost the same way you know what your grandmother looks and sounds like, you know what Bruce Willis looks and sounds like.

  Rian Johnson

  Grandmother, Sound, Looks

  "'Looper' Director Rian Johnson on What Bruce Willis and Your Grandmother Have in Common" by Rebecca Ford, www.hollywoodreporter.com. September 28, 2012.

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• I do love science fiction, but it's not really a genre unto itself; it always seems to merge with another genre. With the few movies I've done, I've ended up playing with genre in some way or another, so any genre that's made to mix with others is like candy to me. It allows you to use big, mythic situations to talk about ordinary things.

  Rian Johnson

  Ordinary, Fiction, Use

  "Why Looper is director Rian Johnson's best film yet". Interview with Peter Rubin, www.wired.com. September 27, 2012.

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• There's something about the sci-fi genre that gets an audience interested in it, so maybe you can take some risks that you couldn't, if you were just doing a drama. It lets you maybe reach a little further and surprise people a little bit more because there's still that little safety base of working on that genre that everybody loves.

  Rian Johnson

  Drama, People, Safety

  Source: collider.com

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• I mean, the first “Back to the Future” is kind of a perfect script, I think. In terms of handling time travel the best, it depends on your definition. To me, that means it effectively uses it in the story.

  Rian Johnson

  Mean, Thinking, Perfect

  "Rian Johnson, ‘Looper’ Director, On ‘Breaking Bad’ And The Problem With ‘Star Wars’". Interview with Mike Ryan, www.huffingtonpost.com. September 8, 2012.

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• You go from these high hopes when you're writing to just a desperate want of not making a complete fool of yourself by the end of it.

  Rian Johnson

  Writing, Want, Fool

  "Rian Johnson talks 'Looper', Bruce Willis' voiceover, and 'Breaking Bad'". Interview with Scott Neumyer, www.ifc.com. January 9, 2013.

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• I feel like people want to be surprised when they get out of the movies. They want something thrown at them they didn't expect. They want stuff that reminds them of the feelings that you get when you're watching art house movies but with the fun of like a big summer movie. That's the goal, I guess.

  Rian Johnson

  Summer, Art, Fun

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• Memory is a form of time travel. That's something we do during the course of the day, every single day. The idea of actually being able to physically adjust that and change it instead of being haunted by it is a really human thing.

  Rian Johnson

  Memories, Ideas, Able

  "Rian Johnson’s Feedback Loop". Interview with Drew Fortune, www.interviewmagazine.com. September 27, 2012.

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• The critical reaction to 'Bloom' has been similar to 'Brick.' There are people on board with it and people who are not.

  Rian Johnson

  People, Boards, Bricks

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• My favorite sci-fi always uses its hook to amplify some bigger theme or idea - some emotional thrust.

  Rian Johnson

  Emotional, Ideas, Hook

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• Even if I had $200 million, I’m very wary of overusing CGI. I think it’s a great tool and it can be used really effectively, but I feel like it does tend to be overused and especially in sci-fi stuff.

  Rian Johnson

  Thinking, Doe, Tools

  "Rian Johnson, ‘Looper’ Director, On ‘Breaking Bad’ And The Problem With ‘Star Wars’". Interview with Mike Ryan, www.huffingtonpost.com. September 8, 2012.

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• Back before 'Brick,' I wrote a short film that I never ended up shooting: hit men in the present who work for a mob in the future who send their victims back in time. A guy is sent his future self, he lets him run, and the whole short was them chasing each other across the city. That sat in a drawer for 10 years until after I made 'Brothers Bloom.

  Rian Johnson

  Running, Brother, Men

  "Why Looper is director Rian Johnson's best film yet". Interview with Peter Rubin, www.wired.com. September 27, 2012.

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• With 'Brick,' I wrote the script when I was 23 and didn't make the movie until I was 30.

  Rian Johnson

  Scripts, Bricks

  "Rian Johnson on his writing process and the appeal of alternate-history films". Interview with Tasha Robinson, www.avclub.com. September 27, 2012.

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