I like black and white films. I don't exactly know why - probably because there is a stylization which is removed from actual life, unlike a color film.
My mother is a very big cinema buff, so as a kid, we watched a lot of Indian and Malay films.
Here's how I've lived my life: I've never been late to a set. I make films I believe in. I feel privileged to be able to do what I love.
I like L.A., but I think what's changed is that the kinds of films I do, the mid-range dramatic film, has become an endangered species.
I think things that are really, really not good are easy to see. But films that are decent can either be made good or great based on the execution. At the end of the day, it's always a crapshoot about the execution, the level of taste, in any department.
I think they quite like me when I work because I'm one of the safer directors to back, because even if my films don't bring their costs in back home, once they're shown outside of India they manage to cover the costs.
I know what I miss as a cinemagoer is that balance of films that actually scare me; they're so few and far between.
Sure I'm leaving the Bee Gees. I'm going into films.
Most feature films are 35-40 shooting days.
I don't want to make pompous, serious films; I like films that have a kind of vivacity about them.
I did some theatre. I had some smaller roles in a couple TV shows and films. I used to think I did a lot of acting, but my 'career' started when I started 'Homeland'.
Let's get a couple of things straight. It hasn't been years and years since I made a movie. I'm not coming back from the dead - I've just had two kids! I have no intention of retiring, but I do think it's impossible to do movie after movie, because there aren't that many good films made.
I never see a novel as a film while I'm writing it. Mostly because novels and films are so different, and I'm such an internal novelist.
I mean, look, I wear makeup in films. I don't wear makeup in real life. It's just part of the gig, that's all.
I definitely want make an impact in television. I want to make a continued and greater impact in feature films, and I want to be somebody who continues to be at the forefront of creating a wide variety of content that I could be proud of and that engages people on all levels.
I don't watch my own films very often. I become so jittery and ready to cry... and miserable. I think it's awful.
What I remember myself from films, and what I love about films, is specific scenes and characters.
I think it is very important that films make people look at what they've forgotten.
I do love the films I've done in the past. I work hard in my movies and my friends work hard and we're trying to make people laugh and I'm very proud of that.
I've concentrated for a long time on English films because I've got two kids but my oldest son is 11 and I think I'm going to be away for about four months of year now.
That's one of the things about theater vs. film - with theater, actors have a little more control, and one of the disappointing things about films is that once you're done shooting, anything can happen, you know?
I've made so many films in New York. There was an assumption I think a lot of people had that I am a New Yorker, that I am from New York, and I always felt like nothing could be further from the truth.
A lot of the films I do go down brilliantly critically and win awards, but not a lot of people see them.
I knew Secrets and Lies was a great film, but I didn't expect it to get the attention it did because none of his other films had and I thought they were just as good.
I haven't done as many films as I would have liked.
It's so hard to raise money for independent films and the fact of the matter is that the bigger my star or whatever is, as a result of doing bigger pictures, the easier it is for me to get money for my own projects.
Not at all, I wanted to go into medicine. I took science in college. But my dad was a Producer - Director in Kannada films, and someone saw me, and one thing led to another.
I think of horror films as art, as films of confrontation. Films that make you confront aspects of your own life that are difficult to face. Just because you're making a horror film doesn't mean you can't make an artful film.
Some directors do recut their films, but I don't if I disagree, and what you suffer is a less passionate marketing campaign, less investment in the film at the other end, which is... fine. I get it.
I don't make films that are easy to market, unfortunately. I think that 'Pi' was the easiest one, because we had that symbol to stick up everywhere, so that was a good gimmick, and created a good mystery, and we didn't have to do huge scale.
I would like to see more Bollywood films! The more stylized musicals are a new trend in the U.S. We are beginning to make musicals again after a long break, practically since the days of the studio structure, so perhaps we can learn a few things from Bollywood about this fun style of film-making.
Consistency is very important when you're making films.
I think where the criticism of videogames come from is where videogames are just Xeroxes of films, and when you get a film adaptation of that game, you've just Xeroxed something twice. I think that's where a lot of the criticism comes from - there are ultra-violent games that are already based on a million films.
An appreciable number of directors have shifted to lower-cost films, allowing them to be satisfied with a more modest return.
Films really can change a conversation and change someone's thinking and perception, especially with people of color at the center. It rarely happens. I think it's important for both the community but also the world to see people of color in all genres, especially love stories.
I like going on location for films.
