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" I just figure if you have a modicum of celebrity, you need to use it, and you need to use it for more things than just promoting yourself or your film or your image or your product. "
Paul Haggis
Film
Celebrity
Yourself
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" I don't think it's the job of filmmakers to give anybody answers. I do think, though, that a good film makes you ask questions of yourself as you leave the theatre. "
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" I try not to think of actors as I'm writing because I think you do them a disservice by writing for things they've already done. "
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" I like to write about things about which I have no answers, questions that trouble me. These things trouble me. "
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" I wrote an episode for 'thirtysomething,' and a producer said, 'That's really good, but what is it about? What does it say about you? What questions are you asking yourself?' I had never thought about that. This comment changed who I was, because it made me look at my own soul, the dark corners in my soul, and accept that dark side. "
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" My one guiding rule for success in the film world would be, be careful of your friends. "
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Friends
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" A lot of films made me love the movies, everything from Hitchcock to Godard. But the ones that really grabbed me were Costa-Gavras's films like 'Z' and 'State of Siege.' "
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" I like taking genres and subverting them. I did that with 'In the Valley of Elah.' I said, 'Okay, this is just a murder mystery. Relax.' And then, two thirds of the way through, I broke every convention of a murder mystery. "
Paul Haggis
Two
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" For me, the most interesting people are ones who often work against their best interests. Bad choices. They go in directions where you go, 'No no no nooo!' You push away someone who is trying to love you, you hurt someone who's trying to get your trust, or you love someone you shouldn't. "
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Choices
Work
Trust
" 'Crash' was incredibly personal to me. So was 'In the Valley of Elah.' There were things in 'The Next Three Days' that were questions I was asking myself but couldn't answer, like how far would you go for love? Can you believe in somebody who can't even believe in themselves? But this is highly personal. "
Paul Haggis
Questions
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Me
" I don't know if 'Crash' is a good movie or not because I didn't set out to make a movie. Really, what I wanted to do is more of a social experiment. "
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Good
Know
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" I don't think I'm against all wars, but you'd have to have a damn good reason to send your son or daughter to fight, or to go yourself. So often, we are lied to and manipulated by our governments for their own very cynical reasons. "
Paul Haggis
Son
Daughter
Fight
" I'm a filmmaker, and I was most influenced by Hitchcock's films. How he could plant such deep enriched characters and then make us care both about the antagonist and protagonist was masterful. "
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Care
Us
He
" You don't make a film because the audience is ready for it. You make a film because you have questions that are in your gut. "
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Audience
Film
Questions
" Film is an emotional medium; it's not a logical medium. It's not an intellectual medium, so every decision you make as a filmmaker and an actor has to be emotional in some way, even in the rejection of logic. "
Paul Haggis
Logic
Decision
Rejection
" When I discovered European filmmakers, it affected me so deeply. It redefined what cinema could be. I mean, 'Blow-Up' ends with a dead body and mimes playing tennis. What? "
Paul Haggis
Mean
Me
Body
" The worst thing you can do to a filmmaker is to walk out of his film and go, 'That was a nice movie.' But if you can cause people to walk out and then argue about the film on the sidewalk... I think we're all seeking dissension, and we love to affect an audience. "
Paul Haggis
Love
You
Walk
" I just asked myself, what piece of that man's soul did he just chew off and swallow to get next week's assignment? You know, just to live, just to work as an artist, or to feed the family? "
Paul Haggis
Man
Live
Soul
" I just love actors, and I've always loved actors. I empathize with their job. Everyone thinks it's easy, and it ain't. To be that vulnerable and brave on camera is tough. The more they reveal themselves, the more we love them, but there's a lot of truth in what they're showing. "
Paul Haggis
Brave
Camera
Job
" My kids paid the price for my career. We can say it's for our family, but it almost never is. It's about us. It's just some of us can pretend better than others. "
Paul Haggis
Family
Price
Say
" You have to have empathy, knowledge and compassion for your characters if you're a writer. "
Paul Haggis
You
Knowledge
Compassion
" The wonderful thing about Clint is you can never second guess how he is going to react to anything. "
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He
React
Wonderful
" I loved American filmmakers when I was growing up. I didn't get to film school or anything. I was a very bad student. I just devoured film, but there was a point in my teens when I started to run a little film society. "
Paul Haggis
Growing Up
School
Society
" Even a modicum of celebrity is hard to deal with. You see it with actors and directors all the time. "
Paul Haggis
Deal
See
Hard
" I don't pay much attention to the press. My films always get good reviews and bad reviews. I just try to make the best film I can. "
Paul Haggis
Best
Bad
Attention
" I am really drawn to damaged characters, and I have a lot of sympathy for them. Making those complicated characters empathetic is something to strive for. It's too easy to create a good guy or a good girl. "
Paul Haggis
Easy
Sympathy
Create
" I'm a deeply broken person, and broken institutions fascinate me. "
Paul Haggis
Me
Institutions
Deeply
" Unless I'm really uneasy with what I'm writing, I lose interest very quickly. "
Paul Haggis
Interest
Lose
Really
" We're trying to reinvent Bond. He's 28 - no Q, no gadgets. "
Paul Haggis
Gadgets
Bond
Trying
" I thought 'The King's Speech' was great. "
Paul Haggis
King
Great
Speech
" I miss my mother very, very much. "
Paul Haggis
Mother
Miss
Very