The film is made in the editing room. The shooting of the film is about shopping, almost. It's like going to get all the ingredients together, and you've got to make sure before you leave the store that you got all the ingredients. And then you take those ingredients and you can make a good cake - or not.
Interpretation
The essence of a film is created during editing, where all collected footage becomes a coherent story.
Philip Seymour Hoffman's quote highlights the crucial role of editing in filmmaking, suggesting that while the shooting phase gathers the necessary components, true artistry and storytelling emerge in the editing room. The analogy of shopping for ingredients emphasizes the importance of preparation and selection, implying that even with all the right materials, the final outcome depends on how one combines them creatively.
In practice
During a film festival presentation, to emphasize the importance of editing.
I think I would have drank myself to death, literally, if I didn't just stop, once and for all when I did. I am not ever going to preach to anyone about drugs or drinking. But, for me, when they were around, I had no self control.
Study, find all the good teachers and study with them, get involved in acting to act, not to be famous or for the money. Do plays. It's not worth it if you are just in it for the money. You have to love it.
Well, in the theater, I think you're actually more responsible for what is going on onstage as a director than you are in film.
I've had to make the transition from sweeping in for 15 minutes, doing my stuff and clearing out, to carrying a movie for the duration - in a dress.
I had insecurities and fears like everybody does, and I got over it. But I was interested in the parts of me that struggled with those things.
I didn't have any idea that I would be able to have a career in film.
It's kind of the filmmaker's job to use visual, cinematic language in a way possible to tell a story that reaches and touches as many people as possible.
Influences come from everywhere but when you are actually shooting you work primarily by instinct. But what is instinct? It is a lifetime accumulation of influence: experience, knowledge, seeing and hearing. There is little time for reflection in taking a photograph. All your experiences come to a peak and you work on two levels: conscious and unconscious.
All art really does is keep you focused on questions of humanity, and it really is about how do we get on with our maker.
There is only one valuable thing in art: the thing you cannot explain.
I think my stance and my way of life is my most important art.
When the bright angel dominates, out comes a great work of art, a Michelangelo David or a Beethoven symphony.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.